"We are a little less than three months away from the installation of a new director ... or a new director."
Bénédicte Durand smiles.
On this Friday, August 26, the provisional administrator of Sciences Po has just announced her candidacy for the direction of the institution, strongly shaken at the beginning of the year by the resignation of the director Frédéric Mion, caught in the turmoil of the Duhamel case.
Read also Duhamel case: the director of Sciences Po, Frédéric Mion, resigns
“I needed this summer rest time to answer two questions. Do I have the desire and the strength to continue to serve Sciences Po? Do I have a project, a vision for this institution, in a context of incredible complexity? It took all this time to answer a double yes, ”
explained Bénédicte Durand after a question asked at the end of the traditional back-to-school press conference.
Final choice in November
"First step"
for the fiftieth birthday, as for all those interested in the post: the declaration of candidacy, with the submission of a detailed CV and a project for the IEP in Paris, before ... August 31, or in four days.
Everyone is free to make their candidacy public or not.
On October 20, a communication will be made on the candidates selected by the competent committee, made up of twelve members.
Read alsoBénédicte Durand: "At Sciences Po, everything must be able to be said with respect for the law and with a sense of nuance"
The final choice will be decided in November: on the 9th there will be a hearing of the candidates followed by a vote by the Council of the IEP of Paris, exceptional;
the 10th, place for a new hearing, this time before an exceptional Board of Directors of the National Foundation for Political Science, followed by a vote.
If the two councils reach a concordant vote, the final decree of appointment signed by the Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation will be published
"by November 20"
.
Several candidates already declared
For the time being, in addition to Bénédicte Durand, first dean of the university college of Sciences Po then director of initial training, two people have publicly expressed their wish to become the director of Sciences Po: the senior official François Perret , a former student of the institution, and the professor of management sciences at the University of Paris-Saclay Jean-Philippe Denis.
Read alsoBénédicte Durand, the new director at the helm in the Sciences Po storm
In addition to this process of appointing a new director, the upcoming academic year has no shortage of challenges for the rue Saint-Guillaume school: the management of a new school year in times of health crisis, delivery of the new “1 Saint-Thomas” Paris site and the launch of a system aimed at combating gender-based and sexual violence.