The French government has yielded to pressure following weeks of protests and disruptions at universities across the country and announced that a controversial decree governing the hiring and promotion of researchers engaged in teaching would be “entirely rewritten on the basis of discussions conducted by Valérie Pécresse [the higher-education minister] with the organizations in question.”

The statement, issued Wednesday evening by the office of Prime Minister François Fillon, followed Mr. Fillon’s meeting with the leaders of the Conference of University Presidents.

The government also announced that university job cuts scheduled for 2010 and 2011 would not be carried out.

Universities across the country have been convulsed with protests against the government’s planned higher-education reform for several weeks, and although classes are in recess this week, the main student union and protest groups have continued to organize antigovernment demonstrations. More protests are scheduled for tomorrow. —Aisha Labi