After weeks of tension, a compromise has been reached between the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the MR-PS-Écolo within the French-speaking entity regarding authorizations in higher education. The agreement guarantees good management of public money, the maintenance of education quality, and overhauling the flawed system of granting authorizations. UMons and UNamur will be granted the authorization to organize their respective master’s degrees, and a study will be carried out after five years to determine the link between creating the master’s degree and Hainaut’s new doctors’ possible installation. The agreement also provides for a moratorium until the end of the legislature on new authorization requests and the blocking of financing of new authorization for three years. The aim is to put an end to the current system where few constraints are linked to opening new sectors, leading to establishments requesting regular refinancing.
While the sky had darkened considerably in recent hours, it is now the white smoke of compromise that dominates above the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
As a reminder, it has now been more than a month since the question of authorizations in higher education has divided the majority (MR-PS-Écolo) within the French-speaking entity, after the negative opinion issued by the minister in charge. , Valérie Glatigny (MR), concerning 2 of the 57 applications submitted by ARES (the Academy of Research and Higher Education).
And while the subject had recently taken a political turn as fiery as it was unexpected, Minister-President Pierre-Yves Jeholet and his minister in charge of the file continued to work behind the scenes, managing in his last hours to complete the main lines of an agreement which should be presented very soon.
Masters granted
Main consequence, UMons will indeed be able to organize its three-year master’s degree, while UNamur will also receive its authorization for the organization of the specialized master’s degree in general medicine.
“I am happy with the outcome of a file in which we were able to obtain the three priorities that we have been defending from the start“, rejoices Valérie Glatingy. According to the minister, this agreement will guarantee “good management of public money, maintenance of the quality of the education offered, as well as an overhaul of the system of granting authorizations which was flawed ”.
No additional funding
According to this agreement, the 57 authorization requests will therefore receive the green light from the minister and the government.
Thus, UMons will be able to organize its full master’s degree in medicine from the start of the next school year. But without additional funding, we are told – the same goes for the request from UNamur, which therefore obtains authorization to organize a specialized master’s degree.
The minister wanted this authorization not to lead to a drop in supervision for students from other colleges and universities. The financing of higher education benefiting from a closed envelope, any amount that the government would have decided to release for the benefit of this initially rejected request would indeed have had to be punctured on the existing sectors.
+READ ALSO | Creation of Masters in Medicine: Magnette and Bouchez welcome the agreement
Independent study
This authorization granted to UMons is accompanied by the setting up of an evaluation study. This one, “which will be independent“, we are told, will be carried out after 5 years and will have the mission of objectifying the link between the creation of this master’s degree and the possible installation of new doctors in Hainaut.
If this study were to demonstrate that no correlation can be observed, the master could then be deleted.
No university hospital
In addition, there will be a mechanism for automatic closure of the master’s degree in the event that the request for a university hospital is made by UMons.
This element of the agreement is explained by the desire of the minister to “maintain the quality of education currently provided in major university hospitals” (Brussels, Woluwé-Saint-Lambert and Liège), thus avoiding a scattering of the clinical cases submitted to the students and their supervision.
A 3-year moratorium
Finally, and not least, the compromise reached provides for a revision of the system for granting authorizations, which will be the subject of a decree to come by the end of this legislature.
This revision provides for a moratorium until the end of the legislature on new authorization requests: no training will be authorized before the start of the 2025-2026 school year. But it also provides for the blocking for 3 years of any financing of a new authorization, as well as the collection of opinions from the administration and economic and social actors.
Other elements will also be introduced, such as the “+1 / -1” system: for each new authorization granted, an old one will be withdrawn.
The objective sought is to put an end to the current system, in which, in a closed envelope system, there are few or no constraints linked to the opening of new sectors, which may lead establishments to request regular refinancing.
This content is not available in this configuration.
Find out ici.
This content is not available in this configuration.
Find out ici.
In conclusion, the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has reached a compromise on the question of authorizations in higher education, after a month of division among the majority parties. The agreement allows UMons to organize its full master’s degree in medicine and UNamur to organize a specialized master’s degree, without additional funding. The compromise also includes the setting up of an independent evaluation study, a mechanism for automatic closure of the master’s degree if a request for a university hospital is made, and a revision of the system for granting authorizations. The aim is to end the current system and provide better management of public money, while maintaining the quality of education offered. With this agreement in place, the higher education sector in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation can move forward with confidence.