On the central campus of the University of Paris-Est Créteil (UPEC, Val-de-Marne), the “red carpet” which welcomes students and professors has become a joke. The pieces of carpet which allow you to make your way through the rehabilitation work on the exterior slab are very red, but we are quite far from the Cannes atmosphere. The university is under construction, and this does not help the general impression that emerges from the aging and charmless buildings.
“We are one of the most deficit universities [8 millions d’euros en 2023, et peut-être 10 millions en 2024]. Obviously, this is felt in the daily lives of students”points out Luce Camus-Mizzi, student at the IEP of Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Marne), which depends on UPEC, and elected member of the Student Union union at Crous de Créteil.
She lists some examples of recent dysfunctions: the collapse of the roof of a lecture hall, temperatures of between 5 and 10°C in certain classrooms in winter, frozen teaching positions, replaced as best they can by temporary workers. “This does not put students in good conditions to studydenounces the union representative, who does not necessarily explain all the reasons why the university is in this situation. I imagine that in the eyes of some, it does not contribute to the intellectual influence of Paris, like the Sorbonne. »
Unequal endowments
Because if many French universities are encountering difficulties – 60 out of 75 could end the year in deficit, warns the France Universities association – some are suffering more than others. “It is a system of nested inequalities within higher educationrecalls Leïla Frouillou, lecturer in sociology at Paris-Nanterre University. Universities are less well off in terms of supervision than the courses integrated into high schools, such as preparatory classes and BTS, which are also less well off than schools. And, within the university system, some establishments are less well endowed than others. »
“The State underinvests in universities in general, particularly in those in eastern Paris, including UPEC”for its part denounced SUD Education 93, in a document published in March. The union pointed out the discrepancies in public funding between universities. In 2022, the subsidy for public service charges was 4,882 euros per student at UPEC, compared to 9,913 euros at Sorbonne University. Another indicator: in 2021, the number of full-time equivalents worked per 100 students was 6.2 at Paris-Est Créteil University, compared to 13.2 at Sorbonne University. Figures that “make one dizzy”, commented the union organization.
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