UM campuses "ALiVE!"
Following the "ALiVE" call for projects launched last October by the University of Montpellier, fourteen projects relating to the renovation and creation of spaces or facilities for student life have been selected. Relaxation areas, restaurants, bicycle shelters, sports fields... there will be something for everyone on the UM campuses.
A.L.i.V.E, for improving student living spaces: a call for projects that lives up to its name! Launched by the UM last October based on an idea by Student Vice President Alexis Vandeventer, it invited students and administrators from various departments, schools, and institutes to take advantage of the campus student life contribution (CVEC) to improve student living spaces. Many responded and got involved in the consultation process, demonstrating a certain originality in seizing this opportunity.
In the end, fourteen of the fifteen proposals submitted were approved by the committee meeting held on January 21 and will be implemented, subject to budgetary approval by the Board of Directors. Most of these proposals involve the creation or refurbishment of dining areas. At its premises in Nîmes and Perpignan, the Faculty of Education will see its cafeteria and common room renovated and their capacity increased. At the Faculty of Economics, the renovated K-Fet will become the Eco'Chill, while atthe IUT in Béziers, a chalet will house the Coffea House, andthe IUT in Nîmes is focusing on outdoor conviviality with the creation of the Chill' Lab.
Chalet, terraces, or pine forest...
The Faculty of Education in Montpellier is also keen to make use of outdoor spaces, and will be playing hooky thanks to the development of the gardens and terrace in front of the cafeteria. The same goes for the Faculty of Medicine in Nîmes, where an unused 1,000 m² pine forest will be transformed into a modular outdoor space. Pharmacy students will see the large hall on the ground floor redesigned to create the Hall You Need, a space of around 50 m² dedicated to socializing and relaxation.
Polytech students, in their project called Born to be alive!, have also redesigned the student office premises and outdoor spaces, which will be furnished with fixed furniture. This wish is similar to that of the students of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, who felt that the premises of the Tutors' Association were in need of a little sprucing up. In dentistry, the focus will be on developing an outdoor space.
Sports and mobility
We expected nothing less from the students, who are calling for investment in sustainable transport on their campus. A bike lane has been marked out on the ground and signs indicating distances and journey times have been installed, parking spaces have been increased, and ergocycles have been installed to enable students to charge their computers, phones, and electric scooter and bike batteries, creating a connected and eco-friendly campus. Sustainable mobility is also being promoted at the Montpellier site of the Faculty of Medicine, where a secure bicycle storage facility is being built. And there's more sport atthe Montpellier-Sète University Institute of Technology, where students have voted overwhelmingly in favor of creating a multi-sports field: conviviality will go hand in hand with pétanque, volleyball, and mini-soccer.
Alive will enable us to maintain the momentum that students bring to our campuses and promote social connections, the crucial importance of which to academic success we are keenly aware of at this time. ALiVE, a wonderful call for projects that has not gone unheeded!