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Students better housed, less precarious and in better health; a university integrated into the territory with well-distributed offices, closer to businesses: these are some of the axes of the new University Development Plan (SDU).
They are more than 180,000 in the metropolis of Lyon. To improve the living conditions of its students and better connect the university to the territory, Metropolis has adopted its new university development plan (SDU) Ambition 2030during the Metropolitan Council of 12 and 13 December.
The main axes of the SDU
But what is SDU? It is a sort of roadmap drawn up by the Métropole and the Community of Universities and Institutes (ComUE) of the University of Lyon, which is divided into three main axes:
- Support student initiatives to foster social, environmental and economic transitions. For example, the SDU must allow develop student entrepreneurship or to accelerate the transition of companies through training.
- Promote student well-being : various ways are proposed, including: fight against precariousness, help them find accommodation more easilyexceed physical and mental health problems (international students and employees are particularly vulnerable) or even strengthen soft mobility to allow them to travel at lower costs.
- Connect the university to its territory, its inhabitants and its businesses : for example, the SDU proposes the “metropolis-campus” principle. The concept: to have a university fabric that mixes with society and the inhabitants rather than focusing only on a few large poles. More generally, it is a question of bringing companies closer to the university, anticipating their needs by training students in the appropriate professions.
The first actions of this plan, which is spread over eight years, should be implemented starting in 2023.
In 2010, the Métropole de Lyon had already equipped itself with a first SDU. This brought together 19 universities and large schools in Lyon and Saint-Etienne. Its goal: to establish a strategic framework and link university campus development and land development. This first SDU, for example, led to the creation of new social residences for students: 6,000 were financed between 2014 and 2020.
A new SDU to answer today’s problems
SDU Ambition 2030 offers a new strategy to respond to current problemsespecially :
- More and more students : from 134,000 in 2010, there are now 180,000 students, their number is expected to increase by another 15,000 by 2030.
- The health crisis has deteriorated the mental health of students and increased their precariousness.
- The climate emergency it also heightens environmental awareness.
- Inflation influence the purchasing power of students.
Lyon Campus – the student website of Lyon Metropolis
