Representatives from the various partner higher education institutions and elected officials from the Region met on Thursday, September 19, to promote a new event: the Béziers student welcome day on Thursday, September 26. The Riquet campus currently has some 3,500 students with a target of 4,000 by 2027. The idea: to appear as a real campus.
On Thursday, September 26, all day long, the Allée de l’Ukraine Libre, a stone’s throw from the IUT, the Place du 14-Juillet and the Paul-Valéry University, will host “Bienvenue”, the first common welcome day for all Béziers students, a sort of inter-university back-to-school forum. “From 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., 54 associations, as well as the CAF, the Region, health, prevention and mobility stakeholders will be present”explains Jérôme Azé, the director of the IUT. A DJ will provide the atmosphere from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Then films will be screened outdoors from 8 p.m.…
Beyond the event dedicated to the thousand new Béziers students, this meeting demonstrates the desire of the various players in the university courses in the city of Riquet to unite and “make campus”according to the expression used by Claire Gatecel, regional councilor in charge of higher education. This Thursday, September 19, she presented alongside other elected officials and managers of Béziers establishments (IUT, IFMS, Duguesclin Paul-Valéry center), this meeting, symbol of a dynamic student life. And also showcase of a nascent campus that must seduce…
3,500 students in Béziers
“There are approximately 3,500 students in Béziers with a target of 4,000 in 2027. This makes it the 6th student city in Occitanie.explains Claire Gatecel. It is therefore a question of structuring student life but also of developing the “Local plan for higher education, research and innovation” validated last week”.
A “future plan” supported by the Region, educational structures, the Agglo, the CCI, with the aim of meeting the needs of the local economic fabric in terms of training. The sectors of decarbonization, robotics, health are thus particularly in demand in the BIterrois. “The objective is both to give children from Béziers the opportunity to train locally but also to attract students from elsewhere with attractive establishments and to develop sectors of the future”explains Claire Gatecel.
A new association “The Béziers Union of Higher Education”
To attract students, Béziers intends to make its student life visible. “This involves events such as this welcome day; an association “L’union biteroise du supérieur” (which has just been created and is chaired by Clément Montagné, Editor’s note); and finally the extension of the Duguesclin site, a large part of which will be dedicated to student life with a place devoted to health, the Crous cafeteria, a “learning center””…
Co-financed by the Agglo Béziers Méditerranée, the Region, and the State, the project should see the light of day at the earliest by the end of 2026. In the meantime, cross-cutting events should multiply, such as the Olympics, a photo competition, and the fantasy festival supported by the IUT. “The idea is to create these exchanges”stressed Christine Bardez, director of the IFMS. “Students are the Blue Helmets of urban reconquest“, commented Fabien Portes, the president of the IUT council.
