With 24,336 students representing 67% of the region’s public post-Baccalaureat student population, Caen University is the leading player in higher education.
Quality teaching and a strong attachment to research, together with solid links with its socio-economic environment have rendered the university an open, reactive and modern higher education institution.

interview Josette Travert,President of the University of Caen Lower Normandy | Figures : 24,336 students

interview Josette Travert,President of the University of Caen Lower Normandy
“Higher Education alongside research”
How does the University rank among the region’s higher education and training players? The University is a key player in Lower Normandy’s higher education offer, via its 24,000 students and the quality and the pluridisciplinarity of its education offer. From a bachelor’s degree to a PhD, it offers general and vocational courses, engineering courses, not forgetting medicine, pharmacy and teaching. Starting from Caen’s “historic” campus, the university has developed within and beyond the conurbation with 5 specific university institutions throughout the region (Cherbourg, Alençon, Saint-Lô, Lisieux and Vire). The State authorities with which it has developed a dynamic relationship have been present and supportive throughout this expansion which has progressively reinforced the university’s role in the region’s socio-economic development.
What is the specificity of the university’s offer compared to other educational institutions?
The university produces and disseminates knowledge. It’s higher education offer, dispensed in close collaboration with research teams, is updated in time with scientific and technological advances and falls within a nationally established system involving the four-yearly assessment and approval of courses and diplomas. The LMD - Licence Master Doctorat* system (*bachelors degree/master’s degree/PhD) establishes courses within the European area, hence guaranteeing them international recognition and enabling students to capitalise credits within the ECTS (European Credit Transfer System)
How can the university satisfy the education and training needs of SME/SMI’s?
Throughout its 3 IUT’s (University Technical Institutes), our university teaches and trains technicians for them to very quickly become operational in industry or in the service sector. Professional bachelor’s degrees have also been developed in association with our economic partners. Our professional master’s degree courses also involve partnerships with businesses, either on a regional or a national level. And every year, an average of 120 students present their doctoral theses following research work conducted within Caen’s scientific hub: a potential wealth of which the region’s businesses are, as yet, insufficiently aware. Similarly, university training potential can and should be increasingly exploited within the framework of continuing education for salaried workers. In partnership with ENSICAEN and the EMN and thanks to support from the Regional Council, we have created the CFA - PSBN (Lower Normandy Public Higher Education Apprenticeship Training Centre), which should offer increased new prospects.

Figures
Education and training offer
• 18 DUT (University technical diploma) specialities (2 years post-Baccalaureat)
• 24 Bachelor’s degrees
• 34 Professional Bachelor’s degrees
• 25 Masters’ degrees, 74 Master 2 specialities (35 professional, 20 research, 19 combined)
• 2 engineering courses
• 73 DU’s (University Diplomas)
• 6 doctoral schools:
> École doctorale Littératures, Cultures et Sciences sociales (Doctoral School of Literature, Culture and Social Sciences)
> École doctorale Droit-Normandie (Normandy Doctoral School of Law)
> École doctorale Structures, Information, Matière et Matériaux (Doctoral School of Structures, Information, Matter and Materials)
> École doctorale Economie-Gestion Normandie (Normandy Doctoral School of Economics - Management ) > École doctorale normande de Biologie intégrative, Santé, Environnement (Normandy Doctoral School of Integrative Biology, Health and Environment)
> École doctorale normande de Chimie (Normandy Doctoral School of Chemistry)

What higher education and training institution is capable of welcoming 24,336 students from all academic fields including “Arts, Literature, Languages”, “Law, Economics, Management”, “Human and Social Sciences”, “Science, Technology, Health”, of awarding internationally renowned diplomas and of disseminating cutting-edge scientific and technological knowledge? The University. A key source of production and dissemination of academic and applied knowledge throughout the territory, the University has also, for a long time, been endeavouring to multiply gateways with the surrounding socio-economic environment. Its higher education and training offer is defined at each four-yearly contract with the State (which validates courses and accredits diplomas) and is reviewed in part every year in order to adapt it to societal change.

Working towards professionalising diplomas

University study is becoming increasingly vocational in order to enhance degrees and diplomas with the essential ingredients for professional integration. Following in the footsteps of IUT’s, IUP’s (University Technical and Professional Institutes) and the IAE (Business Administration Institute), which have for a long time welcomed professional experts within their teaching teams, the number of professional bachelor’s and master’s degree courses has multiplied. 17 bachelor’s and 14 master’s degrees have been created since the start of the 2004 academic year. Course specifications include the participation of professionals (over 1,000) and the establishment of a balance between the targeted profession and current economic and social needs.
The finality of a professional bachelor’s degree is the integration of its graduates within the labour market, further higher education remaining exceptional. And in order to be efficient, the offer needs to be highly reactive. “Our teaching teams are highly involved out in the field and have developed individual professional relationships enabling us to identify needs within the surrounding economic fabric,” explains Pierre Sineux, Vice-President of the CEVU (Council on Studies and University Life). For example, for the 2009 academic year, we will be offering 7 new professional bachelor’s degree courses, 5 of which have already been approved by the CNE (National Expert’s Committee).” As for master’s degrees, the trend would tend to move in favour of the development of dual-finality diplomas (research and professional vocation), offering, alongside genuine professional opportunities, the possibility of continuing study towards a PhD. The most wide-ranging offer is in the field of “science, technology and health”, where study is conducted alongside university laboratories, often in partnership with major research institutions and bodies (INRA, CNRS, INSERM and CEA), ready and willing to welcome PhD students.

A look at continuing education

Although all university courses are open to continuing education, the most frequently concerned are professional bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, IAE (Business Administration Institute) and IUP (Professional University Institute) courses. However, times are changing. “The University is fully aware of its mission with regard to continuing education and is organising its offer in order to enable each salaried worker to find the course that suits his/her needs,” notes Pierre Sineux. Accessibility to courses implies the right exposure and the right price. The university has consequently set to assessing each and every one of its courses, in terms of cost and time, and has developed a specific service, the SUFOCEP, to accompany candidates throughout their study project and its appropriate funding.
Another initiative: to bring the training offer outside the university campus, via distance learning or specific training, directly dispensed in the workplace. Several university services and departments are today represented by the CEMU (University Multimedia Study Centre) or rely, in particular, on the Ingenium platform offering on-line learning solutions, perfectly in keeping with the University’s commitment towards new technologies.

Service provider

Upon request from businesses, the University also develops continuing education programmes, in all fields and tailor-made to meet their specific needs. It can also provide Accreditation of Professional Experience (VAP and VAE) upon request. Thus, the University has become a genuine service provider for enterprise. The development of DU’s (University Diplomas) is also an appropriate response to the need for adaptability. These short courses, which do not require national approval, leave room for increased flexibility and responsiveness. Over 70 DU’s have already been created, particularly in the field of medicine and languages. A DU in Chinese was recently launched, following demand from the Club Chine de Basse-Normandie. Tailor-made indeed.

What they have to say…

Professional degrees : The safest road to employment

Alexis Viel, aged 25, is an environmental advisor at the South-Manche CER (Rural Economy Centre). His qualifications? A professional bachelor’s degree in Environmental resource management in rural areas.

“After obtaining my Baccalaureat (scientific option) in Cherbourg-Octeville, followed by two years’ study in bioengineering at the IUT in Caen, I was looking to rapidly find a job whilst obtaining a “bac + 3″ (3 years’ post-Baccalaureat) diploma that would be recognised throughout Europe. So I chose a short, vocational course. I studied within the University’s geography department and in its two partner lycées, both in close contact with the terrain. Knowledge is transmitted via direct contact with professionals. We learned so much in just one year, in a variety of fields covering a vast issue. Students from my year (2003-2004) were as diverse as was the study programme, coming from a variety of courses and with multiple profiles and experience (1). During my degree year, I spent 4 months training at the DDASS de la Manche, studying the quality of the River Sélune’s water. At the end of the course, I was offered a temporary position at Actif Environnement, a branch of the Manche CER, located in Avranches, working on ensuring that farms meet current standards. I then applied for a new, permanent position as environmental advisor for the South Manche. And for the last two years, I have been coaching farmers on environmental regulations. A professional degree is ideal for those looking for further education and training and to rapidly join the working world.”

(1) Since 2001, a total of 157 students have graduated, including 23 within the framework of continuing education.

Master’s Degree combined with work experience : Between uni and the office

The IAE (Business Administration Institute) offers a Master 2 course in Management control and information systems. The course involves both university study and work experience.

It all started with a remark, during a conversation between a lecturer and a business leader. A steering committee was rapidly set up, reuniting professionals and lecturers, to define a new course in keeping with business needs: a Master 2 degree course in Management control and information systems. “The course combines two skills that businesses currently need: management control, an age-old discipline, and the command of new integrated management systems (such as ERP), capable of dealing with increasingly complex and cross-disciplinary management issues,” The diploma, firmly established within the current economic environment, appeals to students: 300 applications are received each year, for only 50 places.
The particularity of this course lies in the fact that it is combined with simultaneous work experience; three weeks’ work experience for one week’s university study. And since last year, the diploma is now available within the framework of the University’s public Apprenticeship Training Centre. Students are awarded the grade of apprentice within the workplace. The region’s leading companies have warmly welcomed the course: Carrefour, Renault Trucks, Citroën… “The combination of work experience and the presence of professionals within our teaching team, enables us to render young students immediately operational,” adds the course coordinator, proud of its 100% recruitment, job offers flooding in even before students complete the course!

Continuing education : A genuine business service

Every year, Caen’s Banking and Insurance IUP (Professional University Institute) offers training to around 100 students within the framework of continuing education. Training is dispensed either within the Institute, the company’s premises or through distance learning, and is tailored to suit business needs.

Friday, 6 p.m., Caen. For most of the Banking & Insurance IUP students, the week has come to a close. However, for 14 of them, it has just begun. Be they salaried workers or unemployed, they are all preparing to sit the Banking - Insurance - Finance Masters Degree, specialising in wealth engineering, within the framework of “weekend” continuing education, i.e. 9 hours of study per week from Friday evening to Saturday.
A little earlier the same day, in Djibouti. Six students are at their computers to regularly follow courses dispensed by an IUP lecturer within the framework of a Master 2 degree course in business and institutional management, launched 3 years ago and jointly developed by the University and the Centre de formation de la profession bancaire (Banking profession training centre). This year, 36 of them have opted for the distance learning option, available throughout France and other French-speaking nations.
The same day, in Créteil, within the premises of the Bred. Twelve employees are benefiting from a university programme within their workplace, to prepare for a Master 1 degree in professional account management. As a partner of mutual benefit networks and commercial banks, the IUP offers a programme of training opportunities, available all year round within banking institutions and establishments. The company chooses the ideal training tempo and lecturers intervene within the workplace.
“Our training offer is determined by our council, within which bankers and insurers participate,” explains Sandy Campart, an IUP lecturer. “Our diplomas are appropriately named according to the specific professions they prepare students for.” The IUP also responds to tenders from banking institutions requiring specific training packages: a course for executives from the Société Générale, a “succession” module for the Caisse d’Epargne… For businesses, the IUP offers a number of advantages that other training institutions are unable to provide: State-approved diplomas, national recognition, an educational team comprising 50% of professionals and 50% of lecturer-researchers who contribute to the scientific development of training.

University contact:
Pierre Sineux
02 31 56 66 47

Initial education and training
Pierre Sineux
Vice-président du CEVU
Tél. : 02 31 56 66 47

Continuing education
Martine Boittin,
Director of SUFOCEP
Tél. : 02 31 56 58 94

Contact licence pro :
Patrick Le Gouée / 02 31 56 64 25

Contact master :
Jean Montier / 02 31 56 65 35

Contact IUP :
Sandy Campart / 02 31 56 55 78

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