TESTIMONIALS. Teachers at the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse close to breaking up
Staff from the Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse went on strike on Friday May 20, 2022 to express their opposition to the merger of their school with the Centrale group. Behind this mobilization hides the expression of a real uneasiness of the teacher-researchers in the face of the attitude and the choices of the president of the INP.
On the screen of the amphitheater is displayed in large “Reflection on the transformation of Toulouse INP into a central Toulouse institute“. Lined up below, around fifty teacher-researchers from the Institut national polytechnique de Toulouse come for a few minutes to explain the reasons for their strike movement on this Friday, May 20 and their opposition to this project carried out for several months by their president. The latter takes the microphone and resumes speaking: “I agree with you on many points that we have just heard, I share these values.“
As soon as the sentence is pronounced, a few laughs echo in the room. Katherine xuereb parallel reply”I will let you know your reactions when the time comes..” “Another threat“, comments one of the strikers.
Since the beginning of December 2021 and the announcement of this merger project, the atmosphere has been very heavy within the INP. “A deleterious climate where staff regularly collapse in meetings and where occupational health and safety warnings are increasing” denounces in a press release from the Action Committee against the Toulouse Central Project.
“There is real painreports Marc, a teacher from the INP who wishes to testify anonymously. Humanly, it is very hard. This is the worst year of my career.” He saw three members of the school in his entourage burn out: his former laboratory director, the typical example of the researcher “top of the class who never gives up“but who nevertheless completely broke down, his former thesis supervisor”an example for all” and a theard.
The last two years have been particularly exhausting due to the Covid crisis. In its report on the year 2021, occupational medicine calls for caution with regard to Institute staff, showing great fatigue, weariness and sometimes a loss of motivation in the face of work.
“We arrive in December, hoping to be able to breathe, regain strength after two difficult yearsexplains Mark. And there, the presidency offers us this radical transformation.“A slap in the face for many researchers. The decision to embark on this project was prepared in the greatest secrecy.
“We do not take a whole public establishment in secretdeplores Dominique Poquillon, researcher and elected teacher to the board of directors. Reforming this requires all our strength, which we do not have.“
Mark adds:Catherine Xuereb has put all her energy into this transformation. She let go of the day-to-day running of the school when we were all unwell. As a result, she automatically put herself in a position where she does not listen. It is a kind of contempt for the opinion of the other. With some people, she is particularly harsh, with derogatory comments. She refuses the contradictory.“
A lack of social dialogue already stated in the previous months by staff representatives. However, the president elected in June 2020 had made the quality of life at work her main campaign axis.
Tears in the voice, Dominique poquillon does not hide his emotion: “The fact of not being listened to. It is to deny our job, our reality. I’ve been called sentimental. I am told that all this is too close to my heart. Whereas in our jobs, motivation goes through the feelings that we manage to produce. It is a profession that relies on motivation, including the motivation that can be transmitted to students. And for this motivation, you need energy. In research as in teaching. And there, it is something which is completely denied in the current way of governing.“
Has she thought of stopping, like others? “Yesbut if I stop now, vis-à-vis my colleagues who elected me, what am I going to do on July 12, the date of the vote of the board of directors on Centrale? That would be the best solution. But I can not.“
A feeling, mixing anger, worry and the impossibility of projecting oneself, shared by very many teacher-researchers or department directors, who recognize that they are on the verge of breaking up.
Faced with these accusations, Catherine xuereb speaks of many untruths and highlights the establishment of a set of committees open to all in order to hear all opinions and worker on the merger with Centrale. Committees where many opponents would have refused to participate.
“Training people, without having voted on any board of directors, this does not exist in any companyretorts Dominica poquillon. This project cannot work if there is not support from all the INP players. She must realize that a boat without rowers does not advance and that there are no boosts in higher education. We need to know in which direction we are going… “
For Marc, the covid, the Centrale project and the attitude of the INP presidency are not the only reasons for this unbreathable atmosphere: “notWe are also paying for 15 years of higher education reforms, he believes. There is clearly a loss of meaning in our profession with the disappearance of the notion of public service in the broad sense. In research, we are completely subservient to the industry. When you want to do research projects, you can only if you have industrial partners. The university is now an economic model. Above all, it seeks to file patents and more to create knowledge and share.“
The researcher also mentions the frozen positions, the growing number of students, the drop in the number of teachers, the lack of own budgets to pay for the water and electricity of a laboratory. “I never would have imagined that this could have been possible. We have reached a point where we are asked so many things that we accept the idea that everything we do, we do badly.“Same in one of the best engineering schools in France.