The Ministry of National Education published last August the latest edition of its 'Statistical references on education, training and research'.
17.5 billion euros: this is the budget of higher education in France, which employs almost 90,000 teachers and welcomes more than 2 million students, including 68,000 PhD students. From the research side, French expenditures exceed 36 billion euros in 2005 (2.13 percent of GDP), with a staff of 200,000 researchers among whom 55 percent are in companies.
These few figures come from the 'Statistical references on education, training and research', a reference book published each year by the Ministry of National Education. Come out in August 2007, the latest edition is fully available on the ministry's website. For greater convenience, each chapter can be downloaded separately (pdf format).