Crisis of the universities of Toulouse. “Do not touch our autonomy”, say the leaders of higher education in France
The Ministry of Higher Education and Research wants to grant Grand Establishment status to the Toulouse School of Economics. This decision is making waves at the national level. For France Universities, the ministry exceeds its prerogatives.
Do not touch the autonomy of French universities! This is essentially the message sent by the association France Universities to the government. The decision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research to grant the Toulouse School of Economics the status of Grand establishment, without consultation and without the approval of the presidency of the Toulouse 1 Capitole university, does not pass to the leaders of French higher education.
On March 17, 2022, in a press release, France Universities expressed its questions and concerns. For the association, the government”ignores the autonomy of establishments, and threatens the same operating principles of regularly elected deliberative bodies“The project would go against the work carried out to simplify the Toulouse university landscape and could cause”risks of contagion“.
Because to pass the pill of an autonomy of Toulouse School of Economics, the ministry proposes ‘the transformation of Toulouse 1 Capitole University into an experimental public establishment of which TSE would be a component establishment.”
“A strong passage” of the government, according to another observer, who “annihilates any construction of the site project for the benefit of a satellite logic around TSE.”
Because this position prize from France Universities is only the umpteenth episode of the crisis affecting the Toulouse university world. For several months, the Federal University of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées Since, bringing together 31 higher education establishments and research bodies, has had to deal with numerous pitfalls concerning its reorganization in order to benefit from significant state credits.
But in December 2021, Toulouse School of Economics, Toulouse 3 Paul Sabatier University and the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space are proposing a counter-project, named Toulouse Tech University. One”putsch“Dead in the bud.
Obtaining the passage of TSE to the status of Grand establishment is all the more difficult to swallow as it has a political aftertaste. As MP Pierre Cabaré (LREM) revealed in January 2022 to France 3 Occitanie, “the final decision is at the highest level“. In this case, at the head of the state. The Elysée is looking closely at this file which directly concerns Jean Tirole, Nobel Prize in economics and presidential adviser.
This is enough to cool higher education establishments that value their autonomy. “If the Ministry says it is ready to support the creation of an experimental public establishment, it must agree on the objectives, methods and agenda with its only legitimate interlocutors, which are THE ESTABLISHMENTSbelieves France Universities. It is in this context alone that the positioning of Toulouse 1 Capitole University and its TSE component could be envisaged.“The message got through.