Newsletter from the President of Aix-Marseille University
to the entire university community
Dear all,
Health trends in France are reassuring, with the decontamination process accompanied by a decline in the number of infections with the COVID-19 coronavirus. Economic and social activities are resuming, while health protocols are easing. Against this backdrop, phase 3 of our PRA is still in force, with barrier measures still being applied. Family and health criteria remain the most important for us. If the health situation develops as positively over the next few days as it has today, we will consider possible changes to our RPP, in close collaboration with the consultation bodies, in particular the members of the CHSCT.
We have managed to get through this crisis without a hitch. The solidarity, benevolence and unfailing commitment of many of you have been remarkable, and I would like to thank you all once again.
We need to learn from this historic period: we are capable of adapting our processes, mobilising our energies, maintaining our sense of community and we know how to be agile in innovating and transmitting. This crisis must be seized as an opportunity to develop new ways of working together within the organisation and to promote the values of our university.
With this in mind, the discussions on teleworking that began several months ago at AMU will continue and develop. I hope that these discussions will lead to concrete and concerted solutions for new ways of organising work that preserve efficiency, quality of life at work and the all-important sense of relationships.
In parallel with this mission, we will be working on the lessons to be learned from the crisis, both in terms of our organisation in downgraded mode - taking into account the positive points and those that can be improved - and in terms of the fundamental issues that the university faces in society.
Always take care of yourself and everyone else.
1. Stay connected
- I recently announced the launch of our mobile application: Inst'AMU. You can download it today from the Apple store if you have an iOS mobile phone and early next week from Google Play if you have an Android mobile phone.
In its first version, Inst'AMU is dedicated to COVID-19, in particular the organisational arrangements and the possibility for anyone to request assistance from AMU teams. This link remains essential as the summer season approaches.
In the very near future, we will be making the application code available as open source so that it can be freely shared with the entire university community.
- The crisis we have been through has made it even more obvious that we need to be connected to maintain our links. I have therefore decided that from this week until further notice, all our recycled and available IT equipment will be offered to colleagues, regardless of their status or income, at the rate of one fixed PC per agent, subject of course to available stocks.
Since this information was first published, over 500 requests for equipment have already been registered. Requests are still possible, however, and will be met as far as possible over the coming months.
The procedure is simple: https://www.univ-amu.fr/fr/intramu/cessions-de-pc
Equipment can be collected from campus SCASCs.
2. Cultural and social activities for children
More than 160 summer holidays and courses for staff children were booked under the SCASC offer before the crisis. Today, I am pleased to inform you that the satisfactory health situation and the resumption of activities in France mean that we can maintain this range of leisure activities for your children, if you so wish.
Of course, we make sure that all the health measures in force are and will be respected by the childcare facilities.
3. Resumption of international mobility for students
- International placements - within the European area only, however - are authorised for the 2nd half of 2019/2020. They will be possible as soon as the relevant borders reopen (the date is imminent and has been announced by governments). Students must have clearly expressed their wish to go abroad beforehand.
To supervise this takeover, the heads of departments have :
- an attestation by which the student must declare to their Dean or Director that they wish to do their placement abroad in an identified host organisation.
- a model letter to host organisations, asking them to include our trainees in their business resumption plans and to guarantee that these courses will be carried out in full compliance with current health regulations.
To keep track of international mobility, we are also asking student trainees to register via the Moveon link:
https://moveon.univ-amu.fr/form/5cbf2e342e7e0244328fb354/fra
- Outgoing mobility for study or work placement purposes is once again permitted within the European area*. However, they remain suspended outside the European area* for semester 1.
We will inform students who have already been selected for mobility outside Europe* of the alternatives we offer to help them redefine their project.
- As far as incoming mobility is concerned, we will welcome on our campuses all foreign students coming to France for study or work placement purposes, in supervised or unaccompanied mobility, insofar as the reopening of borders has enabled them to come to France. They will, of course, be subject to the same teaching arrangements in force at the time of their arrival as our national students.
* Mobility is authorised to countries of the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
4. Resumption of student placements in research units
Unit directors are free to decide whether or not to accept students of any level on work placements in their unit from July onwards, subject to the sine qua non of applying the barrier measures in force, including the requirement to respect the 4m2 of available space per person.
For thesis defences, students' families will be allowed access to the jury room from 22 June, subject to confirmation from the Government that more than 10 people will be allowed to attend on that date.
As you can see from these measures, the pace of life at AMU is normalising and opening up to the outside world. I'm delighted about that. I'm currently organising my diary so that, as far as possible, I can visit our sites on an informal and friendly basis to renew, at last, our real contacts.
Take good care of yourself. See you soon,