How will the students of the college of Nanterre, which has some 34,000 students, go to their partials this Monday? The question arises while the strike in transport continues and that the university confirmed by email to the students the holding of partial, this Monday, January 6.
The examinations postponed from December, still due to the social movement affecting the RATP and the SNCF, for their part remain scheduled for next week.
To allow the most distant students to exempt themselves from long transport times, the president of the university, Jean-François Balaudé announced this Sunday evening, on Twitter, the opening of the campus gymnasium, during the 15 days of partial to come.
A rare decision, which immediately provoked the ire of hundreds of students on social networks, and the National Union of Students of France (Unef).
To meet the university's needs for solidarity needs, I decided to open the gymnasium as of Monday evening, to allow students who wish to sleep there.
- Balaudé J.-François (@JFBalaude) January 5, 2020"Sleeping in a cot is not the best solution"
"We cannot penalize a large part of the students, who cannot come this week because of the strike, protests Imane Ouelhadj, president of the UNEF Nanterre. There will be very few RERs and subways, which will not only penalize face-to-face students [ Editor's note: those who come every day to classes ] but also those who take correspondence courses and have to report to partials. "
"A student who is following his courses in Amsterdam contacted us because he does not know how to get to Nanterre to follow the partials," she cites as an example. Sleeping in a tent or a cot is really not the best solution for preparing your partials! "
Anita, student in L 3 of Economics, management, mathematics and computer science, does not take off either. “I live in Créteil. I have two partials this week and five more the following. For tomorrow [Monday], luckily I have a friend who can drop me off by car but I don't know how I'm going to do for the rest of my partials, which start at 8 am. We will have to get up at 4 am so as not to arrive late. It is unfair because I have to apply for several masters elsewhere than in Nanterre and they will not be understanding if I end up with a partial 0. "
Exceptional measures adopted by the university
In an email sent to students on December 20, the university announced that it would ease the exam conditions. Delays will be accepted until one hour, as long as no one has left the event. Latecomers will not have more time to finish the tests, however.
Hauts-de-Seine Newsletter
Every morning, the news of your department seen by Le ParisienI'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more
“We have no room for maneuver because we have already postponed the exams for a week, in December. No student wants the academic year to bite in July, "defends Jean-François Balaudé, the president of the university.
"The gymnasium will allow students, who live the furthest away, to sleep on the spot, with a certain precariousness certainly, but with the best possible comfort, thanks to the sanitary facilities and showers," he adds. We envision that this concerns a few dozen students and we got in touch with Crous to offer them breakfasts. "
Blockages announced
While calls for blockages are increasing on social networks, Jean-François Balaudé prefers to ironic. “It is a little paradoxical to say that it is not possible to access and go to campus to block the holding of partials. "
"When I look at the traffic conditions, they are not that bad with every second RER at peak times and also by metros," said the president. At the height of the strike in December, our personnel managed to come to the site. Why shouldn't our students be able to? "
Students will organize a general assembly this Monday at 12 noon. In particular, it will discuss whether to block the holding of partials.