Incidence des allocations d’études sur le choix des filières de formation dans les Universités Publiques du Bénin
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article analyzes the impact of study allowances on the choice of university courses in Benin, revealing a tension between state regulatory strategies and the individual aspirations of students. Through a mixed approach combining the analysis of regulatory texts (2016-2023) and interviews with 25 key players (institutional managers, teachers, students), the research shows that the coupling of study allowances with study courses introduces a fundamental bias of assessment that massively orients enrolment on the basis of baccalaureate performance alone. Students, constrained by financial imperatives, adopt “calculatory” choices, favouring certain courses despite a personal lack of interest in them, all of which leads to high dropout rates and academic demotivation. The government, via the MESRS, justifies this regulation by a logic of controlling the cost of study grants, but reproduces a hierarchy of knowledge (Bourdieu 17) and limits freedom of choice. The article highlights the responsibilities shared between the State, universities and students, and advocates for a reform integrating individualized criteria (cognitive potential; alignment between study and professional projects) and a balance between strategic courses, fundamental studies and classical humanities, in order to reconcile economic efficiency, educational equity and the preservation of academic diversity in Benin.
Source: Uirtus
Institution: Université d'Abomey-Calavi
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4414148013