While a diploma is no longer enough, young high school graduates are wondering what studies will allow them to access employment: here is the ranking of French universities and schools according to the hiring rate of their students at the end of their course.
High school students taking the baccalaureate and who discovered the joys of the Parcoursup procedure this year (or alumni who knew its ancestor Post-Bac Admission) know it only too well: choosing your orientation is far from being a long, smooth river. Unless they have a clear-cut vocation, many young people encounter difficulties when the time comes to make this big decision which will impact their entire professional future, or almost all. And precisely, in addition to the skills and areas of predilection, one question weighs enormously in the balance: what are the opportunities?
At a time when a diploma is no longer enough to guarantee a job upon completion of the course, it is essential for future students to know the courses which offer the best chance of obtaining a job. To do this, we have prepared a ranking of French universities and schools by comparing the employment rate of students, all disciplines combined, after six months and one year after obtaining their diploma.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Higher Education, concerning 2024 graduates, it is a military establishment which obtains the best employment rate for its students. 98.65% of them landed a job within six months of their training. They were 100% after a year. This is the Air and Space School, located in Salon-de-Provence, which trains army aviator officers. The podium is completed by two other major military schools: the Naval School and the Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, located in Brittany. Both train officers for the National Navy and the Army respectively, and have an employment rate above 98%.
Ranking of higher education establishments according to employment rate:
It seems that meteorologists are also on the rise: the National School of Meteorology, a public establishment located in Toulouse, arrives in 4th position. It is the only engineering school offering training for meteorologists, forecasters, climatologists and researchers in atmospheric sciences. One year after graduation, more than 90% of former students have managed to find a job. In the rest of the Top 10, we find two engineering schools, a Conservatory of music and dance, a school of veterinary medicine, a school of art and design, and even a foundry and blacksmithing school. The following five establishments are all engineering schools: the Agro Institute, the École supérieure du bois, the two schools of the ENSAE-ENSAI group, the Union AGRIVIA, as well as the Textile and Chemical Institute. The first business school in the ranking is at 16th place: this is the ESCCI (Higher School of the Portes de Normandie Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
Contrary to what one might think, very renowned establishments like Sciences Po do not display such honorable scores: that of Lyon ranks 183th place with 65% of graduates who landed a job after one year, while that of Paris ranks 281th with a rate of barely 42%. The same goes for the prestigious École Polytechnique, which does not exceed 58% and thus finds itself at 233th position. But it is the University of French Polynesia, located in Tahiti, which comes in the very last place in the ranking: only 7.46% of graduates find a job after six months… a figure which drops to less than 6% after a year.
Important nuance: this classification is not exhaustive. Indeed, the Ministry of Higher Education does not take into account sectors with fewer than 20 graduates, and establishes these figures via a survey: certain establishments do not respond or only partially, which explains their absence from the ranking. “The usable response rate hovers around 70%”specifies the ministry. But this panorama remains a valuable benchmark for future students, who can now get a concrete idea of the opportunities offered by each French university, and thus anticipate their career opportunities. A significant boost to tackle the jungle of Parcoursup and orientation more calmly.
