The I-Site label "Montpellier University of Excellence" confirmed by the Prime Minister
It's official! The Montpellier University of Excellence I-SITE has been made permanent. This is great news for the University of Montpellier and its 15 partners, confirming the relevance and quality of the work undertaken collectively since 2017. This permanence is accompanied by the maintenance of the funding essential to ensuring the university's internationally recognized status and meeting the major challenges of tomorrow.
A little over four years after obtaining the "Initiative Science Innovation Territoire Economie" (I-SITE*) label, the MUSE project has proven its worth by demonstrating its ability to mobilize everyone across the region. Local authorities, research organizations, healthcare institutions, partner schools, and businesses have all come together around the University of Montpellier. "This is a wonderful reward for the collective work undertaken by all the scientists, Professors, engineers, administrative staff, and students of the MUSE consortium," said Philippe Augé, president of UM.
An unprecedented dynamic
"Together, we have demonstrated our ability to generate unprecedented momentum to create a major university that plays a leading role in its region and has a strong international presence , " the presidentcontinues . A great deal of collective effort has gone into ensuring the long-term future of the University of Montpellier, establishing its visibility on a national and international scale around a strong identity focused on three major global challenges: food security, environmental protection, and human health.
The news also prompted a response from the Region, through its president Carole Delga, who said that this decision"is proof of the dynamism and excellence of research in Montpellier and Occitanie. The work carried out within the framework of MUSE is fundamental for the future of our planet and in line with the Region's strategic priorities. We have a collective duty to deliver on these issues for the younger generations and to create momentum for our territories."
Take the exams
This happy ending brings to a close a four-year probationary period marked by a series of challenges: a mid-term evaluation at the end of 2019, an on-site visit at the end of 2021, and finally a hearing by an international jury on January 19, of a delegation led by Philippe Augé and composed of Antoine Petit, CEO of the CNRS, Gilles Bloch, CEO of Inserm, Elisabeth Claverie de Saint Martin, CEO of CIRAD, and François Pierrot, Executive Director of I-SITE MUSE.
The consortium members presented to the international jury all the actions undertaken to build an internationally recognized university: the impact of research support programs, joint authorship of scientific publications, pedagogical innovations, collaborations with the socio-economic world, international attractiveness, and structural changes with the transition of the UM to an experimental public institution on January 1st... With the results we know.
Building an internationally recognized university
Ranked among the world leaders in ecology according to the Shanghai thematic rankings since 2018, UM has also risen from the top 400 to the top 200 in two years in the Shanghai general rankings and was recognized as the most innovative university nationally according to the Reuters world rankings published in October 2019. The hosting of the New Africa-France Summit in Montpellier in October 2020, embodied at the University by Montpellier Global Days, is a perfect example of this international visibility, which positions it as the European gateway to the South.
According to François Pierrot, Executive Director of I-SITE MUSE, " This scientific appeal has indeed created leverage for other projects that have already enjoyed considerable success: the ExposUM project obtained as part of the ExcellenceS Investment Program for the Future, the SFRI IDIL program promoting interdisciplinarity and internationalization in education, and the University Innovation Hub label and the implementation of key challenges for the Occitanie region. "
What now?
The definitive perpetuation of the I-SITE label safeguards the state's funding (€550 million, or €16 million per year) and allows for the continued structuring of the new experimental public institution and the maintenance of its trajectory by launching new support and transformation initiatives across all academic fields in order to continue building the university of tomorrow together.
* The IDEX/ISITE initiative, conceived in 2010 as part of the Investments for the Future Program, aims to establish a limited number of research universities in France at sites with remarkable scientific potential and capable of creating synergies between universities, schools, research organizations, healthcare institutions, and businesses.