The least we can say is that the gestation was long and rich in twists and turns. It may have experienced its last critical moments from May 25 to June 10, when the boards of directors of the establishments concerned had to give their approval to the project. The positive votes followed one another: Beaux-Arts (Esbansn), School of architecture (Ensa Nantes), University, Centrale Nantes, CHU, IRT Jules-Verne, plus the national approval of Inserm.
“We’ve all been waiting for this moment for some time. With a certain impatience, ”euphemizes Carine Bernault, president of the University of Nantes. “The response to the first calls for projects dates back ten years. At one point, I thought it was done ”cowardly, between two doors, the“ dean ”Stéphane Cassereau, who since 2001 has directed the Ecole des mines de Nantes then the IRT Jules Verne.
Complications in shambles
Because there were many complications, as Mediacités had echoed. The most serious crises came from Centrale Nantes and its former director, the much contested Arnaud Poitou. Between 2017 and 2021, the establishment’s board of directors will have successively voted for, against (2017), for (2018), against (2019) and for (2021) the alloy project labeled I-Site, causing the passage a crash that we thought a definitive time.
But the New Nantes University (NUN), or NExT version 1 (NExT for “Nantes Excellence Trajectory”), which was originally to be born on 1is January 2020, could therefore see the light of day two years later under a barely different name. In the meantime, Arnaud Poitou took the door, dismissed by his own administrators, and Olivier Laboux, the former president of the university was retired, after two terms. Both largely blamed for the failure of the project.
In mirror image, their successors, at the helm of this NExT version 2, are praised. Carine Bernault, close to Olivier Laboux, president since 1is July 2020? “Motivating, soothing and exemplary while everyone scrutinized it”, notes François Vallette, from Inserm. Jean-Baptiste Avriller, arrived in the wake – and by surprise – at the direction of Centrale? “He is a very political polytechnician, who manages conflicts very well. Even if he does not do much internally, calm has returned », indicates an administrator.
“Integration” or “merger”?
Beyond the ambition to “create a world-class university”, says Jean-Baptiste Avriller, the Nantes university can once again cherish the dream of benefiting from the 330 million euros in subsidies provided by the State out of ten. years. 30 million euros (to which will be added 12 million paid by the communities) will be released from the birth recorded. To achieve this, there are still some obstacles to overcome.
First that of the statutes, of which we publish the draft below; They must be presented to the National Council for Higher Education and Research (Cneser) on July 6, then to an international jury “in the coming months”. And it can still get stuck. The Ministry of Higher Education refuses, for example, to see the term “integration” systematically replaced by “fusion” (its modifications are displayed in blue in the text. Read in particular article 89). The I-Site jury could even go further “by asking that component establishments abandon their legal personality, as in Paris-Saclay
. The jurors are a little provocative sometimes ”, warns a source close to the case. What offend certain sensibilities.
Nantes University statutes
Upcoming election as head of the university
The election in mid-November of the new 36-member board of directors will follow. It will replace that of the University of Nantes, the boards of directors of the other establishments continuing to exist for the time being. Administrators
will then elect a president at the end of November. Even if she denies it – “it is too early to talk about it” -, Carine Bernault will therefore be setting out again in the campaign while the inter-union list (FSU, CFDT, FO, CGT) was on par with hers, in February 2020.
During the vote on Nantes University on May 28, 11 university administrators had even voted “against” and 22 “for”, plus 1 abstention. “It’s still two-thirds against a third. There are criticisms that I heard in 2019, that I no longer hear today, ”reassures the President of the University. On the union side, two sources confirm “that no discussion on a new list has been started. We have joined forces in opposition to the NUN. But for now we are losing and the University is losing ”. Not everyone is impatient to receive Nantes University’s birth announcement.
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