Universities across France experienced widespread disruptions today, in response to calls from faculty unions and student groups to protest plans for reforming the higher-education system. The government’s proposals provoked opposition from the outset, which intensified recently over moves to modify a law governing the hiring and promotion of researchers engaged in teaching. The change would allow universities to dictate how those staff members allocated their time between teaching and other activities.

The main union representing higher-education instructors said in a news release that by midday at least 45 percent of teaching activities at France’s 83 universities had been affected by the strike.

Valérie Pécresse, the minister in charge of higher education and research, issued a statement in response to the action, in which she clarified the government’s intentions over the planned reforms and tried to soothe researchers’ anxieties by emphasizing the guarantees the government would continue to provide.

Also today, Prime Minister François Fillon unveiled more details of a broad stimulus package for the French economy, including nearly $1-billion in new spending for higher education. According to the Associated Press, projects the higher-education funds would support include “reinforcing security, new student housing, and asbestos removal at a campus in Paris.”

Organizers of today’s strikes were unmoved by the government’s actions and have called for another day of mass action on Thursday. —Aisha Labi