Newsline from the Faculty of Science Council, October 9, 2019

Grant Voting

The Council unanimously approved the grant applications submitted by the associations:

• Biotrace: for its 15th scientific conference on the theme “Humans and Their Place in the Environment,” to be held during the first week of February 2020 on the Triolet campus. Grant of €300;
• IGEM Montpellier: to participate in the IGEM international synthetic biology competition organized by MIT in Boston. The project will focus on the creation of a new molecular tool called KARMA: a fusion of a VHH and a protease designed to specifically target proteins and degrade them in complex environments, with the aim of combating cancer and antibiotic resistance. Grant of €300.

Voting on agreements

The Council voted in favor of the agreements:

– Interdepartmental collaboration with Polytech for the Department of Languages at the Faculty of Social Sciences;

– an educational partnership with Claude Bernard University – Lyon 1 and the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon;

– in partnership with the Digital University and the University of Montpellier – Faculty of Sciences;

– the provision of facilities between Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3 University and the Faculty of Sciences;

– a loan for the exhibition “La tête et les mains” in collaboration with Lycée Jean Monnet (Montpellier);

– equipment rental through Cevenn’Essences.

Presentation of two sponsorship agreements with Schlumberger and Total SA. The Council issued a favorable opinion on these agreements.

Job Campaign for Faculty Members and Lecturers

The Dean of the Faculty presented the job descriptions for positions 623PR63 and MCF65-64 to the assembly. These two positions will be put to a vote by the Faculty’s Executive Committee on October 23.

Update from the Licences and PACES Working Group

Mr. Richard Arinero, Academic Director of the Bachelor’s program, presented the audience with an analysis of enrollment trends in the first year of the program over the past two academic years, as well as the effects observed since the implementation of Parcoursup. It was noted that, at the start of this academic year, there are 281 fewer students officially enrolled compared to the 2018–2019 academic year.

Of the 1,489 enrolled students, 1,047 came through Parcoursup, 54 are international students who enrolled through Campus France, and approximately 50 were admitted outside the regular admissions process.

A sharp decline in the number of students repeating a grade (approximately 350 fewer than in 2018–2019) was observed. This decrease can be explained by the fact that between 2017–2018 and 2018–2019, the success rate remained stable at approximately 37%, while the number of enrolled students fell from 2,228 to 1,770.

In the absence of the decree governing admission to medical, pharmacy, dentistry, and midwifery programs, it is difficult to quantify its impact on first-year enrollment and to determine how it is factored into the configuration of Parcoursup’s application data.

University Certificate in French Scientific Studies

Presentation of the launch of a University Diploma in “Training in French Scientific Studies.” This University Diploma will enable Chinese students—who have been pre-selected based on their Gaokao scores (equivalent to the French Baccalauréat) and possess a level of scientific knowledge equivalent to that of the French scientific Baccalauréat—to adapt to French scientific instruction. They will be offered a preparatory program including subject-specific courses and French as a Foreign Language (FLE) instruction to help them transition into the first year (L1) of the Faculty.

The Council has given its approval for the program to begin in January 2020.

Your elected representatives and the department chairs serve as your points of contact within the Faculty of Sciences at Montpellier. Please feel free to reach out to them.