Toulouse: with 7,000 additional students in two years, the city is still as attractive
More and more students are choosing the Pink City for its higher education offer. In two years, nearly 7,000 additional students have enrolled in Toulouse for a total of over 107,000 students.
Interrupted for a while, during the Covid-19 crisis, the student life festival, which is part of Student Week, returns for the sixteenth time to Toulouse, on 13, 14, 16 and 18 November in four emblematic places of the Pink City.
An initiative led by the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, which brings together 31 establishments including 23 in higher education, a CHU and 7 research organizations, and which aims to better welcome New Toulouse residents.
It must be said that the health crisis has in no way bent the curve of new young arrivals, expressed by the “second student city in France”. A single figure: the Toulouse academy just over 100,000 students two years ago, we have grown to over 107,000, according to the estimates of the president of the Federal University Philippe Raimbault, who held a press briefing, this Monday, November 8 in the premises of Allées Jules Guesde. The reason ? A massive arrival of the 2000 generation in lecture halls.
He is aware that the pandemic has brought to light a large number of students affected by precariousness, psychological distress and isolation. And the situation continues.
The cost of student life on the rise in Toulouse
If Toulouse is a city taken for studies, the cost of living is increasing there, notes “the indicator of the cost of the start of the 2021 school year” published in September by the General Student Association of Midi-Pyrénées (Agemp).
“According to our calculations, 2,324.40 euros is the price that a young person from the pink city will have to pay for his start of the 2021 school year, an increase of 3.20% compared to the last start of the school year,” recalls the president of Agemp Océane Ranjeva. For this second school year under the sign of COVID-19, the association alerts young people to the difficulties of young people in the face of this health crisis, because already long before it, student precariousness was already one of the biggest factors of inequalities in our higher education system. Today, the situation is deteriorating, making access to higher education for everyone even more complicated ”.
More generally, according to a survey commissioned by Fage, “74% of young people say they have encountered financial difficulties during the health crisis,” says Agemp. Despite an announced economic recovery, student jobs have once again become a safe bet.
“Many young people are now forced to use a salary to finance their studies, this having a strong negative impact on their academic success, adds the student association of Midi-Pyrénées. In addition, the health crisis has strongly modified the situation: during confinement, 58% of the students who exercised an activity thus stopped, or changed their paid activity. “.
Philippe Raimbault, President of the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées: “In terms of the number of students, we have been on the rise for two years”
The Toulouse Academy welcomes “each year more incoming students than outgoing”, assures the president of the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Philippe Raimbault. The health crisis has failed to overcome the exceptional attractiveness of the Pink City and its plethora of higher education and research offerings. “We are on the rise, adds Philippe Raimbault. We have welcomed 7,000 additional students over the past two years. We feared last year to see fewer foreign students coming, because of the pandemic, the closed borders of certain countries, a vaccine policy not developed ”. In higher education establishments, notes the president of the federal university, “the vaccination rate is rather high, but we cannot ask students to say whether or not they are vaccinated”.
The sixteenth edition of the student life festival in four dates
Saturday November 13: The Court of Student Initiatives
The spaces of the Crous de Toulouse-Occitanie and the Ensav, 58 rue du Taur, will be transformed to make room for all student creativity. Between courtyard and gardens, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., students will discover Toulouse student associations in the form of workshops and games. Several screenings of short films are also organized. From 6 p.m., the spaces turn into stages. Concerts, dance shows, DJ sets … A program entirely provided by student artists. Free event with free access (on presentation of the health pass), co-organized with the Crous de Toulouse – Occitanie, in partnership with Ensav and the Université du Temps Libre.
Sunday November 14: orientation course in the city center
The next day, at 2 p.m., students are invited to participate in a major orientation course and to explore Toulouse, its monuments and its must-see places. Equipped with a smartphone with geolocation, it is up to them to find the beacons to progress. Two routes are offered: a “sport” format of approximately 10 km with classification and a “cold” format of approximately 5 km to be achieved by walking or running to take the time to appreciate what makes the Pink City essential. Free event on registration and on presentation of the health pass.
Tuesday November 16: the Night of the Students of the World
Toulouse welcomes more than 10,000 international students each year. The World Students’ Night is an opportunity to welcome them. After a cocktail (by invitation) in the Salle des Illustres of the Toulouse town hall in the presence of the mayor and president of Toulouse Métropole Jean-Luc Moudenc, all students (international or not) are invited to a karaoke and DJ set evening at Connexion Live , from 8 p.m. to midnight.
Thursday, November 18: Arts & culture evening
For an evening at the Augustins, exceptionally open, the museum, associated with the magazine Clutch and at the Federal University, welcomes in its cloister and its church artists, dancer, organist, jazz group, DJ, live model workshop as well as a host of unpredictable student-mediators and researchers “science dealers”. Free event for students and open to all on presentation of the exhibition entrance ticket (6/4 euros). Without reservation. Entrance on presentation of the health pass.