Next comes the review of the year that is ending by addressing the situation that is coming into perspective: “UNS wants to be a multidisciplinary university focused on knowledge, innovation, and employment in fulfilling our main missions: teaching, research, and professional integration. On this subject, Albert Marouani specifies that only about 10% of our students (holding a bachelor’s or master’s degree as of December 1, 2009) are still job seekers.”
Albert Marouani, accompanied by Mr. Pierre Coulet, First Vice-President, and Mrs. Eliane Kotler, VP in charge of Studies and University Life, also wanted to share with us the other projects that characterize the development of the establishment he presides over: “UNS is a great university, internationally recognized but not in Nice! At the time of its foundation, the option of a university in the city was chosen instead of a campus, as is often the case in the United States. This has led to us being somewhat dispersed in the urban fabric, with a real difficulty in being recognized.”
“Today we have several medium-sized campuses (5,000-7,000 students) that are spread across different sites (Valrose, Carlone, Tratobas, Saint-Jean d’Angely, Sophia, the Var plain, etc.), and our goal is to give all these people a single identity and pride: to be a member of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. For this, we must move beyond clan affiliations (faculty/site) and find a sense of belonging because the competition is at the international level, and we must put all the assets on our side if we want to be among the best.”
The UNS President mentions the reorganization of the university landscape with the upcoming establishment of the Economics and Management center (ISEM), which will bring together the faculties of political science, economics, and management, and subsequently, the IAE with a staff of around one hundred teacher-researchers.
Finally comes the announcement of the creation of two new structures:
– The Institute for Risk, Ecology, and Sustainable Development (IMREDD) in the Var Plain, which will be a permanent forum for research, teaching/training, and the promotion of sustainable development technologies,
– And the Ulysses Institute (International School of Restoration, Hospitality, and Tourism) with the mission to develop a value creation-focused research/training, evaluation of impacts, and sustainable tourism. The institute will work in partnership with the Universities of the Euro-Mediterranean Research and Higher Education Hub (PRES), the Paul Augier High School in Nice, and the Universities of Paris I, Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, Angers, and Grenoble.
At an international level, the PRES, along with the universities of Turin, Genoa, Toulon, Corsica, and Pierre Curie, will now be called Eurocampus Méditerranéen, allowing a more global vision of the UNS.
“Finally, I am pleased with the first results of our Unice Foundation, which has raised nearly 2 million euros that will contribute to our budget. We have set much higher goals (5 million euros hoped for by the fifth year and 8 to 10 million euros annually in the long term). But the start is quite encouraging. More autonomy means more flexibility in terms of finances, jobs, and human resources management for a genuine capacity to make strategic choices and promote a public service university.” Congratulations, in the form of a conclusion, for Albert Marouani, who can now go on vacation with the feeling of a job well done.
