The 26-year-old son of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been handed a plum job as a law lecturer despite a somewhat unconventional academic career. The appointment of Jean Sarkozy, who was at the centre of a major public scandal in 2009, has caused a bit of a stir.

• Sarkozy's next move: Is he off to London? (22 Jan 13)
• Sarkozy sets UMP leadership ultimatum (02 Dec 12)
• The legal woes of Nicolas Sarkozy (22 Nov 12)

Course announcements at the university of Paris-Est Créteil do not typically attract much attention. 

But when the listing for this term’s class in Company Law emerged on Tuesday, one detail stood out – the name of Jean Sarkozy. The son of the ex-president had been included in a group of four academics assigned to teach the course.

Confirming the appointment, the head of the course Phillipe Dupichot told France’s Europe 1 radio: "It's nothing out of the ordinary, I use stand-in lecturers all the time."

But the selection has caused a stir in the French media, due mainly to Jean Sarkozy's slightly chequered career up to now and the fact he only graduated two years ago.

French daily Le Parisien, pointed out that Sarkozy the younger – who was born to his father's first wife Marie-Dominique Culioli – had previously started and abandoned a literature degree, as well as an acting career, before finally beginning his legal studies in 2006.

He then failed his second-year law exams twice in a row before finally graduating in 2011, five years after beginning a three-year course.  

In 2009, while still at University he was thrust into the centre of a major scandal in France when he was nominated to take charge of the public authority EPAD which ran Paris's financial district La Defense on annual budget of 1 billion euros.

The news of his appointment, which came while his father was head of state, caused widespread public outrage in France and abroad. His nomination was eventually withdrawn.