New areas for the Montpellier-Nîmes medical school in the Gard region

On February 8, the Nîmes university hospital campus inaugurated the extension and restructuring of its site during an official visit attended by representatives of the various institutions that helped finance the project. With an additional 1,434 m2 built and 1,336 m2 restructured, the Nîmes-Montpellier Faculty of Medicine has further enhanced its appeal.

On February 8, Philippe Augé, President of the University of Montpellier, and Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region, unveiled the plaque celebrating the official inauguration of the extension to the Nîmes-Montpellier Faculty of Medicine's Gard site, designed by the Nicolas C.Guillot architectural firm. As Philippe Augé points out: " This inauguration is the culmination of a multi-year commitment, all the more important as Montpellier-Nîmes is the only medical school in France to be located on 2 sites, thus contributing to the networking of our region and the development of the University of Montpellier's training offer ".  

The Region, the State, the University, the Metropolis and City of Nîmes, and the CHU all chipped in to raise the €9.6 million needed to extend Building D and renovate Building A. " The Region has invested €3.4 million in this project, which consolidates our determination to make Nîmes a true Health Campus," explains the President of the Region. Investing in tomorrow's healthcare also means responding today to the difficulties of access to care and combating medical deserts."

A new lease of life

This year, the Nîmes campus celebrates its 50th anniversary. In the space of five decades, this second address of the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine has become a site in its own right, growing from 747 students in 2001 to over 2,100 twenty years later, representing a third of the total number of students enrolled in the UM's medical and midwifery courses. This steadily rising figure can be explained by the quality of the training provided, which is identical in every respect to that offered on the Montpellier site, and by the increasingly popular student living conditions in the city, with an accent. The proximity of the Nîmes and Montpellier university hospitals, and the very rich healthcare ecosystem of both sites and the region, mean that we can offer students an exceptional range of internships," points out Isabelle Laffont, Dean of the Faculty. It's no coincidence that we are currently the third medical school chosen by interns on completion of their second cycle of medical studies.

In response to this success, the site had to be restructured. It's now a reality. The extension to Building D, located at the heart of the campus, offers teaching teams and students a new lease of life, with 1,434 m2 of new floor space and 1,336 m2 of restructured space. Four additional classrooms and a 150-seat amphitheatre have been added to the existing 13 classrooms and two amphitheatres. The restructuring of Building A freed up three new classrooms, while bringing together all administrative services on the second floor, which was previously refurbished to save over 170 m2. 

Student life, so dear to the hearts of Carabins and Carabines, has not been forgotten, with the provision of a 200 m2 meeting space with sound, equipment and furnishings in the extension to Building D. The premises of the Corpo carabins crocodiles and the Nîmes corporation of student midwives also benefited from this renovation, as did the space dedicated to tutoring. Finally, a 1,000 m2 outdoor pine forest has been laid out, offering access to a multi-purpose playground (pétanque, mölkky, relaxation break...).

Modern teaching methods

Isabelle Laffont, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, was pleased to show visitors around the new premises during the morning's inauguration. " The extension and restructuring provides our institution with superbly equipped new premises, enabling us to deploy a modern teaching approach in which digital technology, simulation and the learning of the scientific approach take on an unrivalled dimension." And it was certainly the new simulation teaching center, the SimHU Nîmes for hospital-university medical simulation, presented by anesthetist Laurent Mattatia, that most caught the attention of the guests.  

This exceptional facility, built in partnership with the CHU de Nîmes, now boasts ten simulation rooms enabling medical students and healthcare professionals to train in medical and surgical procedures using "patient robots". Thanks to hyper-realistic simulations, where scenarios evolve in real time, the operating theater, emergency room, delivery room, neonatal ward, intensive care unit, etc., all the hospital's departments open their doors to learners, without any risk to patients. The creation of the "SimHU Nîmes", based on the principle of primum non nocere ["first, do no harm"], is anchored in our DNA," concludes Nicolas Best, General Director of the CHU de Nîmes. The hospital-university collaboration between our two cities continues to grow and develop, enabling us to pool our expertise for the benefit of patients in our region.

A collective public financing plan

On this February 8, 2023, on the university hospital campus in Nîmes, none of the sponsors were missing. Occitanie and Haute-Garonne regional prefect Pierre-André Durand, represented by Gard prefect Marie-Françoise Lecaillon, Occitanie regional president Carole Delga, Université de Montpellier president Philippe Augé, Nîmes Métropole president Franck Proust, Nîmes mayor Jean-Paul Fournier and Nicolas Best, general manager of the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Nîmes.

All were involved in the project to extend the Montpellier-Nîmes Faculty of Medicine site, which cost a total of 9.62 million euros and was financed as follows:

  • Occitanie region: €3,389 M
  • State: €3,250 M
  • University of Montpellier: €843,000
  • Nîmes Métropole: €820,000
  • City of Nîmes: €817,000
  • University Hospital: €500,000