Introductory speech
Directors of Institutions of Higher Education Culture,
Dear Philippe Durey, thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful Ecole du Louvre,
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
I am delighted to be here today among all of you who represent the diversity and excellence of artistic and cultural training in our country, in all fields of creation: architecture, art, design, photography, theatre, music, dance, circus arts, puppetry, heritage, film and audiovisual.
I am very proud, as Minister of Culture and Communication, to have the responsibility for higher education Culture, which, thanks to the
schools that you run, lay the foundations every day for the lasting influence of what is one of the singularities, and, I hope, one of the strengths of our country: creativity, innovation and artistic quality.
Today, I would like to start by listening to you so that I can fully appreciate the challenges facing higher education Culture that you represent. But I can already assure you that the priority of education and research will be reaffirmed in the budget and that I will defend with determination the budget for higher education for the next three years.
I would like to thank you for having accepted my invitation, and especially those who have agreed to outline for us today the issues facing the sector around its structuring issues: the specialization of the training offer and the professional integration of students, research and innovation, the role of schools in our territories and finally the place of schools in the new landscape of higher education in France.
I believe that Marc Nicolas, the director of ENSMIS, is entrusted with the role of facilitator of your interventions: I thank him in advance and I give him the floor!
Interventions by directors of schools of higher education Culture
Closing address
I thank you for each of your interventions that allow me to draw this first conclusion: higher education Culture has real strengths, we must be aware of them and proud of them. We must consolidate these assets and put them forward, by actively mobilizing our resources, for the promotion of our schools and the success of students, especially internationally.
One of the strengths of our schools is the specificity of their training, which promotes access to employment.
You recalled the particularity of your teaching, in close connection with the professionals, around a pedagogy of the project and creative thinking that train autonomous students in touch with the professional world.
I know that these are values that you all share and that unite you. They make your diplomas attractive and promote the professional integration of your students thanks to the close ties, which you stressed, with the professional circles concerned. This link between schools and professional circles, I will be keen to preserve and even improve it.
According to the results of this year’s survey of 2010 graduates three years after graduation, 85% are in professional activity, of which 80% are in the diploma field. But we must also be vigilant because this integration can be precarious, especially in terms of income.
I welcome all the initiatives that have been put in place to strengthen this asset: observatories and integration mechanisms, as well as support for the development and
dissemination of student work, more recently support for the establishment of alumni associations which have long proven their worth for other sectors . It is necessary to accentuate the network effects and the brotherhood of those who have gone through the same courses.
As for the rest of the professional integration of students, I want to ask you about an initiative supported by the President of the Republic, that of civic service: is this not a field to invest for our students? This would represent both a professional situation for the students and a way to fully enroll the schools in the priority to arts and cultural education and the transmission of knowledge that I support.
I would like to hear your proposals on this matter.
Still on the professionalization of students, I heard the suggestion, made in the morning, to propose even more widely than today to the institutions of the show labeled to take in internship, or according to formulas to define, the graduates of our schools, to ensure their professionalization.
But students' success also depends on better student living conditions.
The increase in grants, aligned with those of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, is obviously essential. But I hope that the issue of living conditions will be addressed in a broader and more global way at the next meeting hosted by the General Secretariat and the Ministry’s directorates so that an overall plan can be drawn up.
In terms of access to housing and health, the development of living facilities for students, access for all to training, especially for students with disabilities, and the reception of foreign students, our institutions must be exemplary.
With regard to students, we have a strong social responsibility because they represent the renewal of cultural actors and the emergence of a new generation of creators, more equal and more reflective of the cultural diversity of our country. I am very committed to making our schools even more open to all the talents of our population and to ensuring that all young people, whether they come from disadvantaged neighbourhoods or from diverse social backgrounds, can say to themselves, “This school is also for me”. because the phenomena of self-censorship are still important, especially because artistic careers are not always perceived as financially secure.
We have an obligation of pedagogy and valorization of our trades, including within the framework of the programs of the National Education from the most
young age. I will also strongly support mentoring or tutoring initiatives aimed at opening up our higher education schools.
I would like to mention another strength of our schools, which you have highlighted and which is dear to me: research.
As you pointed out, the added value of your teaching lies in its specificity and its strong potential for technological and societal innovation. I am thinking for example of research in design, architecture, urban planning or sustainable development, which has a real impact on our ability to live together and the quality of our living environment.
Research also contributes, with the recognition of diplomas, in particular master’s degrees, and doctorates, to the visibility of our schools and their international influence: it is therefore important to encourage the exercise of these. This goes through the status of research teachers, which I know is particularly important to you.
- In the field of architecture, the conclusions of the report on the status of teachers aimed at taking better account of their research activities will soon be presented to me. I will examine them carefully.
- With regard to territorial art schools, the Fioraso Law provided for the submission of a report to Parliament examining the conditions for the alignment of the status of the territorial art teachers with that of the teachers of the national public institutions. Solutions for harmonizing these statutes will be the subject, within a few weeks, of open proposals based on the hearings of the various actors concerned. Two options were examined in particular: the creation of a specific statute for teachers of territorial schools and the establishment of an inter-function public status as formulated in the Fisher report a year ago.
We also need to look at the resources available for research and to have innovative reflections on funding combining
public competitions and private funds. Some areas, such as the sustainable city, can lend themselves to this. Federative initiatives already exist for the presentation of know-how internationally, such as the Vivapolis project. Schools of design or architecture could play a role in this.
And more generally for the creative sector, from the plastic arts to the performing arts, we must work towards the recognition of contents, criteria and methods of evaluation that are partly distinct from those of the academic world.
I also believe that your schools must seize the tools of digital technology now, not only as a formidable vehicle for creation, which
some of them are already doing so successfully, but also as a means of renewing pedagogical practices and the dissemination of content and
research: online tutorials or master-classes are real opportunities… I will be particularly attentive to the initiatives that are and will be taken in this field!
Our schools, anchored in the territories where they are in contact with economic and cultural actors, are also open to the world.
You have highlighted this strength of our schools: the exceptional territorial network of 101 institutions and its 36,000 students
spread across the country and internationally oriented.
The challenge today is to balance the provision of training, both in terms of territorial anchorage and the distribution of staff, taking into account the economic and social context, the need to match, upstream, jobs
and training.
I know that a mapping of the provision of training and needs assessment is underway in the field of creation, which I think is essential to structure this network and ensure its visibility.
We must also rely on our drac, which have an important role to play in steering higher education. I think their participation on the boards of public institutions in the regions is necessary.
It is already effective in the EPCC (Public Institutions for Cultural Cooperation). I know that a decree on the governance of national public institutions, including provisions giving drac institutions a greater role in their bodies, is being drafted.
The presence today of the DRAC, whose representatives I greet, is indicative of their commitment to you.
I hope that you will be able, with them, to continue to develop your connection with the communities, both for the schools under their supervision and those under the ministry. The strength of this anchor depends on your ability to deploy nationally and internationally.
By the uniqueness of their pedagogical approach and their training, by the quality of the opportunities they offer their graduates, by their ability to
develop a leading research, our schools have much to contribute to the new landscape of French higher education.
I have heard the difficulties that some of you may have encountered in the context of the new ComEU. I will ensure that your specificities are respected in the current and future negotiations, recognizing that these discussions are based on the principle of the independence and autonomy of higher education. Everything is based on your initiative.
We can support you without interfering.
For, as you have recalled, the participation of our schools in university groupings is an opportunity and an additional force for
they. They have to gain from research, the pooling of services and resources for the benefit of staff and students, the visibility of their degrees and their international reach.
I have also heard the legitimate question that some of your schools may have regarding the link between registration fees and the attractiveness of our training courses: on a global scale, we can indeed observe anti-selection of our courses when registration fees are low. It’s probably a very specific question, but it has to be educated.
In order to highlight the specificity of our schools and make the voice of higher education Culture heard, it seems to me essential to have, like the other ministries, an advisory body that we now lack. That is why I want to implement the CNESER Culture (National Council for Higher Education and Research) project announced by my predecessor. I will therefore have the pleasure and honour of chairing the Plenary Council at my next meeting with you, once my administration has finalized its outlines.
This “Parliament of Schools” through which we will speak with one voice, rich in inflections of each, will allow us to place our schools at the heart of the new landscape of higher education, research and innovation and to better value the strengths of our network. It will allow you to move forward united in this movement of concentration which is accelerating. I hope that a decree
be published by the beginning of next year.
What I have heard confirms the importance of the projects to be carried out. But it also reinforces my interest in this sector and my hope for your schools. They are great talent pools for our country, tools for development, creativity and innovation, to help it grow and expand its reach.
You can count on my commitment and determination to help you increase your strength, with you!
Thank you.