Interia cooperates with leading editorial offices in the world. In our weekly, Friday series “Interia Bliżej Świat” we publish the most interesting texts from the most important foreign newspapers. The British, conservative “The Spectator”, from which the article below comes, has been published continuously since 1828, which makes it the oldest weekly newspaper in the world.
At the beginning of the year, the French feminist association Sciences Po – Décollectif Féministe – decided to organize an “unmixed” meeting, clearly excluding male and white participants. The event, which was supposed to be a “safe space” for women of color, sparked an immediate reaction, and a member of parliament from the National Rally Marine Le Pen has been called “racist and discriminatory”. In the end, the event was canceled, but the situation itself illustrates the deep rot that has spread among elite French universities.
Sciences Po – for years the most important training ground for future presidents, prime ministers and diplomats Jacques'a Chiraca after Emmanuel Macron in the lead – noted the violent decline in its prestige. Once a French jewel academic communityand today? Corporate recruiters are increasingly looking away from the CVs of its graduates, who are seen as activists rather than professionals.
In a recent survey conducted by Decision Makers Magazine recruiters expressed growing disappointment with the famed school. The times when Sciences Po was the main producer of versatile and pragmatic leaders are gone. French graduates great schoolsi.e. elite national universities, are no longer so eager to hire – at least not in the eyes of corporate headhunters.
The crisis of French elite universities. All because of identity politics
Recently David Butterfield he wrote in “The Spectator” about his resignation from work (lecturer – ed.) on University of Cambridge. He made this decision out of frustration “infantilization” of education. French elites are now facing a similar, if not worse, decline.
Unlike Great Britain situation France is clearly more serious in nature. Permeating ideology French schools is not only “woke” or “progressive”, but steeped in Islamo-leftism. It is about a mixture of leftist ideology with Islamist sympathies that has become deeply rooted in the country French academic culture. And nowhere is this change more visible than at Sciences Po.
Hard classes are forgotten economics Whether public administration. Instead, Sciences Po's curriculum included explicitly ideological deviations and sometimes entire modules devoted to topics such as gender, colonial guilt and systemic discrimination. Universities appear to be more focused on identity politics and theories of systemic oppression than on mastering the basics politics, administration i political theory.
One of the more divisive aspects of this change is impact “decolonial” movementwhich presents contemporary France still a colonial power rooted in systemic oppression. A decolonial framework – far from simply examining historical injustices – presents French institutionsespecially the police i armyas tools of oppression. Thus, the curriculum is saturated with an anti-state bias that fundamentally changes the role of universities as a training ground for future decision-makers.
A protest rally instead of science
This transformation made itself felt during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As tensions escalated around the world, Sciences Po took an exceptionally radical stance. The students tore down the posters depicting Israeli hostages, which caused public criticism and increased tension at school. Lecture halls were barricaded, and lines of uniformed officers lined up on the street in front of the school. It resembled what was once a stately intellectual center a scene from a protest rally.
Sciences Po's unique brand of Islamo-leftism has fostered alliances with pro-Islamic movements on campus that position student groups in opposition to the French state. Students oppose Charter of Secularism (Polish lit. “Card of Secularism” – ed.) – a document whose aim is to strengthen secular principles in public institutions – arguing that it unfairly targets Muslim students and faculty.
This resistance is not just an ideological position – it is a challenge to herself the idea of secularismwhich is the foundation of French public life, according to which religion and state must remain strictly separated.
The ideological shift is not limited to Sciences Po. It also flows through others French elite institutions. Already University of Paris-Saclayleading the way in science and engineeringstudents started campaigns to “cancel” those invited speakerswhose views they found controversial. This resulted in multiple rejecting invitationsas well as raising serious concerns about the issue freedom of speech. In science, where debate and research are essential, the suppression of disagreement is particularly troubling.
HEC Parisleading French business collegealso bowed to identity pressure. The professors there are currently meeting with strict guidelines regarding “offensive language” and “microaggressions”, which in many cases leads to self-censorship for fear of students' reactions.
Even discussions on topics such as economic inequalitycolonial trade or corporate strategies in global markets are increasingly presented through a narrow, socially conscious prism that is more suited to an activist seminar than to a business school. As a result, HEC's practical and global approach to business education has been weakened by ideology, leaving students less prepared for the competitive realities of the corporate world.
Studies as a laboratory of activism. What about freedom of speech and research?
At the same time, Sciences Po and other elite institutions decided to symbolic gestures. Cooperation has been established with institutions with Middle Eastincluding universities in Qatar. Critics say these partnerships are at odds with secular values of France and her position on the matter liberal principles. Unlike similar collaborations in Great Britain Whether United Statesin France these partnerships rarely face public scrutiny.
The university authorities also got involved symbolic change of nameserasing the names of those considered controversial historical figures and replacing them with people known for their anti-colonial or progressive views. For example at Sciences Po Caquot Amphitheaternamed in honor of Alberta Caquotaa famous French engineer and inventor, was renamed in honor Simone Veiladvocates women's rights and survivor of The Holocaust. So instead of encouraging students to grapple with complexity and ambiguity historyadministrators hand them a simplistic moral framework that favors ideological clarity over intellectual diversity.
This broader trend raises serious questions about the future elite French educational institutionsas well as about ability nation to raise future leaders. Just as Butterfield warned against sinking in Great Britain in ideological infantilization, yes France must face his own reckoning. Formerly prestigious schools have fallen into ideological conformism at the expense of teaching the basics. Today, critical inquiry and open debate are frowned upon.
Ideology transformed these institutions into activism laboratoriesin which there is no longer academic rigor. The once proud reputation of elite French schools has collapsed, leaving education stripped of its essence and prestige. No wonder graduates have a hard time finding one work.
Text translated from “The Spectator”. Author: James Tidmarsh
James Tidmarsh is a lawyer living in Paris. His law firm specializes in complex international commercial disputes and arbitration.
Translation: Nina Nowakowska
The title, subheadings and abbreviations come from the editors