FACT OF THE DAY In Vigan, the higher education center connects the city to regional universities

The emotion was palpable and sincere, this Thursday afternoon, in the brand new premises of the Charles Flahaut higher education center in Vigan, even before the inauguration ribbon was cut. An emotion heightened by the presence of the former mayor, Éric Doulcier, who initiated the idea of ​​the possibility of higher education in Vigan “from 2008”specified the president of the Pays Viganais, Régis Bayle, and was hampered in his function by illness, which forced him to give up running in 2020.

The first to be moved and grateful for the impetus given was the current mayor, Sylvie Arnal. “Who would have thought that one day, in Vigan, there could be a university start?”enthused the former assistant of Éric Doulcier, emphasizing his “satisfaction to see today the effort of more than fifteen years in the service of our community come to fruition.” In 2010, the municipality launched eco-dialogues, welcoming Pierre Rabhi, Stéphane Hessel and Francis Hallé. “These meetings (…), mocked by the opposition who saw in them only the delusions of “ecological bohemians”, were in reality the first stone of this center of higher education”.

“At the Region, they thought we were crazy”

Régis Bayle, president of Pays Viganais and regional advisor

Masters students from the Faculty of Sciences of Montpellier were then welcomed, “to work one week a year on biodiversity and the natural heritage wealth of the Viganais region”recalled Sylvie Arnal to mark the period of seduction of her city towards those responsible for regional higher education. “Thanks to this partnership, the creation within this center of a professional EDEN license (study and development of natural spaces) is now a reality.” Then, in 2019, the president of the region, Carole Delga, proposed to the city to host a connected campus, even if “in the Region, they thought we were crazy”nuanced Régis Bayle, also regional advisor. Finally, in 2021 a branch of the Nursing Training Institute arrived.

This educational impulse had to be brought together. The current director of the higher education center, Rachid Mdaam, was an important linchpin, praised by the various speakers (read here our article on the start of the higher education center last September). And this, even if “the academic world was sometimes more doubtful” that the municipality, then underlined Régis Bayle, who defined the connected campus as a means of “fight against house arrest”. And thanked the Department at length for its significant financial commitment to the operation.

“My ambition is to make it an experimentation center for long-term student stays”

Jean-Michel Marin, director of the Faculty of Sciences of Montpellier

“Certainly, this place will be used to accommodate medical students”projected the president of the Pays Viganais. To which the director of the Montpellier science faculty, Jean-Michel Marin, responded, extending to all his students: “What an incredible testing ground to bring our students to a territory like this! My ambition is to make it an experimental center for long-term student stays.” While Benoît Roig, president of the University of Nîmes, insisted on the importance of a decentralized tool, when “25 to 30% of high school graduates do not continue in higher education, in particular because of the distance”. He wanted to see developed “niche training courses that correspond to the needs of the territory”.

Finally, the prefect of Gard, Jérôme Bonet, used to inaugurations with numerous speeches, kept things short. “There was something daring to say to each other “we are going to create a higher education center in Vigan”. The prefect then praised “doubt and nuance” that higher education, and more broadly education, deliver. On the audacity and success of the project, however, the speeches did not doubt for a second.