FRANCE: Government promises new campuses – for some

The government has launched a multi-billion-euro investment programme to create internationally high ranking universities. But the project is not open to all; only 10 campuses will qualify for this status, leaving most establishments to continue balancing their budgets between safety standards and new equipment.

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced last year that funds from selling 3% of France's electricity company, estimated at up to €5 billion, would be devoted to creating 10 centres of excellence of higher education and research. His aim was to attract the best researchers and students and place France among the top universities in the world.

In February Valérie Pécresse, Minister for Higher Education and Research, officially launched Operation Campus which, by the end of this year, should have selected the successful sites, expected to include federations of more than one university. Among the benefits, successful projects will receive substantial extra funds for construction, upgrading and maintenance of buildings, improving safety standards and making campuses more pleasant, user-friendly places in which to live.

So what are conditions like now in France's universities? In her announcement, Pécresse noted that a quarter of university buildings did not meet fire safety standards, 15% were unsuitable for current teaching and research needs, some had not been renovated for 20 or 30 years, and universities were experiencing difficulties maintaining buildings in a good state.

An inquiry by specialist magazine Vie Universitaire found that most university buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, often with economies in mind: "Universities have often had to exhaust their financial reserves to keep up with maintenance, and struggle to conform to ever-tighter security and safety regulations. However well or badly equipped or managed, every university must face the same decisions: when a building is no longer in a fit state, it must be repaired or replaced."

It added that, faced with tightening budgets in recent years and maintenance funds cut or deferred, works had often been delayed or carried out cheaply and shoddily, storing up problems for the future.

The Conference of University Presidents concurred. "Maintenance that isn't carried out today becomes tomorrow's major safety works, and the deterioration observed in parts of university estates, built in the 1960s, bears witness: [properties] that were then poorly maintained because of insufficient funds need costly renovation today to bring them up to safety standards."

The 81 universities, and ultimately their presidents, are responsible for maintaining and updating premises that between them total nearly 18 million square metres. But they depend on state and regional funding allocated under contracts renewed every four years. The government generally calculates 1% of construction costs for major maintenance work but the presidents say this should be increased to 2% – the legal obligation in the private sector.

Two government programmes in recent years have concentrated resources on expanding and modernising France's universities. During the 1990s, Université 2000 was launched to cater for the rapid expansion of student numbers, its resources largely concentrated in the regions on building new universities or enlarging existing ones. When it ended, nowhere in the country was more than 150 kilometres from a university or university branch.

University of the Third Millennium or U3M, a six-year investment plan, took over in 2000 to develop research and new technologies and improve the quality of facilities, especially for students' living conditions. One of its priorities was the universities in inner Paris which posed particular challenges. With about 300,000 students enrolled in seven establishments, some buildings were classified as historic monuments, many were unsafe or in poor state of repair, there was a lack of libraries and other facilities, and faculties were scattered over several sites.

Much of the U3M finance destined for Paris went to the massively expensive task of removing asbestos from the Jussieu university area and to creating a new university district in a south-east Paris development zone to relocate one of the Jussieu-based universities.

The University of Paris-3, Sorbonne-Nouvelle specialises in modern humanities and exemplifies the capital's problems. Three years ago its President, Bernard Bosredon, launched a demand for extensive repairs, reconstruction and expansion to be carried out. Buildings were dilapidated, severely overcrowded and spread over 10 sites including one outside Paris.

Windows in its main building, the 40-year-old prefabricated, metal-framed Centre Censier, were dangerous and had had to be sealed shut. Interior walls had not been replastered for over 20 years but no maintenance work could be done because of danger from asbestos. At the time, Bosredon said: "I was a student here when the building was new and they told me then you could dismantle it with a screwdriver."

Now the situation is improving, Bosredon told University World News last week. Paris-3 has obtained new premises for a research centre, work on libraries is nearly completed or continuing, major works in the Sorbonne are scheduled. Funding has been agreed with the state and region for Censier, and a second campus at Jussieu will provide much needed space. However, completion of all the works is not expected until 2013-14, and despite "very great progress", Bosredon still doubts there will be enough room for the university's 18,000 students.

But further hope lies ahead. Sorbonne-Nouvelle is one of six leading higher education establishments in Paris which have joined forces to form Universitas. This federation, covering all major areas of studies including law, economics, science and medicine, will present a bid for inclusion in Operation Campus.