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Carole Delga and Philippe Augé meet social science students at Montpellier University

Published on in Press room

On Monday, May 22, 2023, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, Agnès Fichard-Carroll, Vice-President in charge of training and university life, and Amel Qobaa, Student Vice-President, welcomed Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region and President of the Régions de France, to the Aimé Shoenig student center. After a tour of the university library on the Richter site, a round-table discussion on training and student life was organized between President Carole Delga and social science students from the University of Montpellier (law, economics, management).

From left to right: Paloma Pozzati, student at Montpellier Management, Agnès Fichard-Carroll, Vice-President in charge of training and university life, Amel Qobaa, Student Vice-President, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Region, Melissa Beck, law student and Alexis Soulere in charge of corporate social responsibility.

" This meeting is an opportunity to discuss, exchange and participate with all UM students on a wide range of subjects, including education, research and student life. It's important to take part in this round table to better understand their expectations and ensure their well-being " declared Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier.

" Listening to the questions and aspirations of our young people, and finding concrete solutions, is what motivates my political action. The choice of studies, training and, tomorrow, a job, raises questions for all of us. That's why I wanted to come to Montpellier yesterday to meet the UM students, who had gathered in large numbers for an open and constructive dialogue. Alongside UM President Philippe Augé, I assured them of the support of the Region, which is committed to democratizing access to quality higher education, wherever they live and whatever their career path; investments in buildings, decentralized campuses, student residences, etc. As we did during the Covid crisis, for example, by providing laptops and 4G keys to combat the digital divide, the Region is particularly mobilized to meet their needs, whether in terms of mobility, training tools, food or mental health. In this same format, I will soon be meeting other student communities in Occitanie to continue these exchanges" declared Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie / Pyrénées-MéditerranéeRegion. 

Commitment, mobility and training

This round-table discussion was an opportunity for Philippe Augé and Carole Delga to exchange views with students in the social sciences at the University of Montpellier, and to answer their questions on training, student life, Occitanie's regional policy, regional networking, mobility, guidance, integration, student involvement and ecology. 

The main ideas concern student life, in which many students are seeking to become actively involved. The University of Montpellier offers this through tutoring and the promotion of student associations. Mobility was also the subject of many questions, and the University of Montpellier and the Region are working to facilitate access to education via transport (coach, bus, bikes, cars, trains).

Training was, of course, the subject of many discussions. While the plurality and range of training opportunities in Occitanie is already considerable, Carole Delga and Philippe Augé are keen to continue contributing to the region's educational network.

Student precariousness and ecology

Student insecurity was also discussed, as the University of Montpellier, with the economic support of the Region, is implementing solutions. Agnès Fichard-Carroll outlined the actions undertaken by the UM, including the Fonds de solidarité et de développement des initiatives étudiantes (FSDIE). Financed by the CVEC, this fund helps finance student projects in a variety of fields (culture, humanitarian aid, sport, solidarity, environment, civic commitment, etc.), as well as providing support, in conjunction with CROUS social workers, for students in serious difficulty or in precarious situations. The fight against menstrual precariousness was also discussed, as was the student life master plan, comprising 73 concrete actions to combat student precariousness.

Ecology, and in particular water resources and energy transition, were at the heart of the debate. The UM, one of the world's leading universities in terms of ecology in the Shanghai thematic rankings, is very committed to environmental issues. As a reminder, it is striving to set up or renovate a large number of its establishments to comply as closely as possible with the rules of energy transition (work on the STAPS building), and has been named "water capital" following all the initiatives it has been able to put in place over the last few years (creation of the Unesco-ICIREWARD center, creation of Hydropolis, hosting of the Water4Future edition, hosting of AISH delegations and organization of the annual water week...).

The Occitanie Region commits to improving living conditions and success for its students

As a leader in higher education, the Occitanie Region is fully mobilized to deploy a quality training offer throughout the territory and meet the aspirations of the 270,000 students in Occitanie.

At the end of the year, the Region adopted a new regional strategy to make higher education and research one of the levers of Occitanie's development and attractiveness policy. To enable all young people to choose and succeed in their studies, the Region supports higher education in all regions, both in the metropolises and in Occitanie's 18 "Villes Universitaires d'Equilibre".

In total since 2016, the Region has thus mobilized more than €150M in favor of the University of Montpellier and its students making it possible to finance, for example:

  • the new University of Medicine (inaugurated in 2017) in almost its entirety (45.5 M€);
  • renovation of university housing and construction of new housing, in partnership with CROUS (since 2016: renovation of 3,095 university housing units and construction of 1,849 new units);
  • the development of psychological assistance offered by the UM via the University Care Center (€170,000 since 2020) and the financing of a Pass Mutuelle Etudiant for scholarship students (€100 per year);
  • the development of mobility, in particular with the "+=0" scheme for 18-26 year olds, which allows free use of liO trains from the 11th journey and will be extended next autumn to the regular road lines of the liO regional transport network (40,000 young beneficiaries and more than 500,000 tickets sold by 2022);
  • the Revenu Ecologique Jeunes (Ecological Income for Young People), which offers support for training (nearly 190 existing training courses) or a business creation/takeover project, and guarantees an income of up to €1,000 per month. Launched in 2022, it already has over 500 beneficiaries.

Practical information: