French Engineering Schools Eye Moroccan Talent Amid Math Skills Shortage

"I was shocked when I realized that the students didn’t know how to calculate the area of a circle! The level has collapsed in secondary education. Physics, which used to be computational, has now become descriptive. In first and final year, students study quantum physics, when they don’t even know what a spring is!" warns Julien, a math professor in the Paris region, who is concerned about the level of future engineers.

The president of the Conference of Grandes Écoles (CGE) and director of Arts et Métiers, Laurent Champaney, makes the same observation, lamenting that engineering schools are receiving fewer and fewer applicants. "In our entrance exams, we go to the end of the lists. We try to recruit widely, but it’s critical," he confides. Despite this difficulty, the director of Arts et Métiers wants to take up the challenge of going from 2,000 to 3,000 graduates per year. "We will draw from other pools than the preparatory classes and also go to other territories, like Morocco," he assures.

The level of French students in math is alarming. They have been dragging these flaws since primary school where "the French education system spends too much time on additions," fumes Charles Torossian, mathematician and general inspector. According to him, teachers should address more complex notions such as multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals with students at an earlier stage.

The disastrous results of French schoolchildren in the 2020 Timss (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) international assessment reveal their weak level in decimals and fractions even more. In Europe, French CM1 students are last and those in fourth grade are second to last. To change the situation, some experts suggest reviewing pedagogy to make mathematics more accessible to young students and to integrate complex notions "earlier, in a progressive and intuitive way".