Newsletter from the President of Aix-Marseille University
to the entire university community
Dear staff,
Dear students,
It's been over a week since all French people were instructed to confine themselves to their homes to combat the global spread of COVID-19. We are in a state of health emergency. New measures were specified on Monday by the Government, which also increased the penalties for those who, unfortunately, fail to comply with the health and distance rules designed to protect us from this invisible and deadly virus.
Once again, I ask you to respect them as scrupulously as possible to protect yourselves and your loved ones. The organisation within our university is now operational via the business continuity plan; it guarantees the continuation of our essential public service missions without endangering our community.
The pedagogical continuity plan has been widely adapted in each of the 19 components, student attendance online is remarkable and their enthusiastic messages to lecturers is a source of great satisfaction to us all.
I'd like to extend my warmest thanks to all the colleagues who spare no effort to feed the AMETICE platform every day and enable our students to continue their learning. It's all here: https://www.univ-amu.fr/node/3136
New "Frequently Asked Questions" have been put online, based on your legitimate questions and arising from national regulations or specific to AMU, dedicated to different audiences. I invite you to read them regularly, as they will be updated as soon as necessary.
Now that the organisational emergency has been dealt with, it is vital that we continue to identify people who are isolated and in need, or who have a digital or social divide. We are in the process of finalising funding from local authorities to supplement a solidarity fund that we are setting up at the university; I will be presenting these special arrangements to you shortly. An agreement has already been reached with the Sud PACA region to finance the repatriation of students still abroad.
I would like to thank you for keeping a close eye on your students, colleagues, friends and acquaintances, and for spreading the word about the support initiatives underway.
Take good care of yourself.
1. Repatriation of students abroad
Five hundred students from the region are still abroad for study or work experience and unfortunately cannot return home. We have reached an agreement with the President of the Provence Alpes-Côte d'Azur region and the three other university presidents to finance the emergency repatriation of these students. Financial aid of 500 euros will be paid to each student wishing to be repatriated.
2. Identification of isolated students in need
- A health questionnaire has been drawn up to identify the needs of students with as yet undetected difficulties. It consists of a short survey sent by email to all students, as well as a message posted on social networks and websites. A few targeted questions will enable us to identify the level of difficulties they may be facing during this period of confinement: what is their situation of confinement, the nature of the difficulties encountered (health, disability, food, isolation, loss of morale, etc.) with, if they wish, the possibility of being contacted again by the BVE, SIUMPPS or CROUS teams to help them.
The survey was sent out to AMU students' personal and university emails yesterday, Tuesday 24 March, between midnight and 7am. We have already received 30% of responses this afternoon. A reminder will be sent out on Thursday night.
- The SUMPP (Service Universitaire de Médecine de Prévention des Personnels) is also available to help staff.
If you have any questions about your health, your work situation and/or confinement, you can contact the doctors, occupational psychologists and secretaries by email, depending on the campus to which you are assigned. You may also be offered a teleconsultation;
- sumpp-campus-marseille-centre@univ-amu.fr
- sumpp-campus-aix@univ-amu.fr
- sumpp-campus-luminy@univ-amu.fr
- sumpp-campus-etoile@univ-amu.fr
- sumpp-campus-timone@univ-amu.fr
3. Corporate meetings
- I met the members of the CHSCT yesterday afternoon to present the business continuity plan to the elected representatives.
One question in particular had been asked about combining teleworking with childcare. The university's principle is simple: as part of the instructions in our business continuity plan, it is the direct hierarchical superiors who define with each member of staff the tasks and conditions of teleworking which, when they are not met, place the member of staff in a position of "special leave of absence".
In other words, if the employee is unable to telework due to a lack of personal equipment and connection, or if they have full-time childcare responsibilities, they must inform their line manager in order to be granted special leave of absence.
I have asked each department, division and component to be attentive and receptive to individual situations. It is possible, for example, that some employees are in a more mixed situation, combining childcare and teleworking. In this case, we have asked all line managers to set up a teleworking organisation that takes account of this reality, which means that these staff are less available every day to carry out their duties.
However, even if not all activities can be maintained and the need for childcare may constitute an obstacle to full activity, it is important that everyone is able to work part of the day and that, at the very least, a link is maintained with the professional environment. A message setting out these rules was sent yesterday by the HR Department to all the university's structures.
If you have any questions or difficulties on this subject, the HR Department can be contacted by e-mail at the address of your campus HR Department.
- Yesterday morning, as agreed, video-conference meetings were held with members of the governance, directors and deans. There were many rich discussions, sharing the measures put in place in each school, institute and faculty and, in the vast majority of cases, testifying to the positive experiences that colleagues are conducting for the benefit of students and staff alike to ensure continuity of activities. Once again, I would like to extend my warmest thanks to you, dear colleagues, for your strong commitment and the quality of the work you have done.
- It should be noted that the Accounting Agency has a service continuity plan for certain financial operations. Due to containment measures, only staff equipped with dedicated business tools can work remotely and only process urgent transactions.
- For any questions relating to the payment of invoices, please send your requests to : ac-service-facturier-direction@univ-amu.fr
- If you have any questions about pay, please send them to ac-pole-paye@univ-amu.fr
4. Staying connected, staying fit, staying positive
- We would like to remind you of the need for physical activity during periods of confinement. There are plenty of sporting activities available to everyone, so don't hesitate! https://www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/sport-la-maison
- Just as AMU's artistic ensembles are presenting their art here in "confinement" mode, don't hesitate to keep up a good mood and positive thoughts: https://amupod.univ-amu.fr/video/4069-les-ensembles-amu-a-la-maison/
- A wide range of services and cultural discoveries are also available on the Ministry of Culture website: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Culturecheznous
5. Frequently asked questions
- All the FAQs consolidated to date for students and staff can be consulted at this link: https://www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/covid19-faq-informations
- More generally, information on AMU's response to the COVID-19 crisis is now available on the home page of both the internal and external websites.
Once again, I would like to express my sincere thanks to each and every one of you for the energy you are deploying during this period of crisis. Thanks to you, we can continue to operate, for the benefit of as many people as possible.
Take good care of yourself and everyone else.
Eric Berton , President of the AMU