UPPA strengthens its training offer in Basque CountryIREKIA
Winner of the call for projects « Excellence in all its forms » launched by the French National Research Agency (4th phase of the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir) with the IREKIA project, meaning « open » in Basque, the University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour aims to transform its training offer and strengthen its research capacities in Basque Country.
The University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour stretches now on five campuses. Those in Bayonne and Anglet host together nearly 4,000 students. Yet this Bayonne-Anglet-Biarrits urban area, which is one of the most prolific in Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in terms of high school graduates number each year, has one of the lowest student rates in the region (around 20 students per 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 60 in Pau, 100 in La Rochelle, and more than 200 in Poitiers.)
UPPA plans to markedly increase the number of students on its Basque Coast campuses by 2032, in order to enable more of these high school graduates to continue their studies in their region, but also to welcome new students enjoying natural attractiveness of Basque country.
This project is part of the Local Higher Education Scheme by proposing a strengthening of trainings connectivity with economic local ecosystem, a transformation of pedagogical methods, as well as an amplification of research for a better international visibility.
« Fablabs » appropriated to regional expectations
To increase Basque campuses’ attractiveness and adapt training offer to regional needs, the IREKIA project is based on three-part-work tools :
- the « learning centre », an incubator of pedagogical innovation in support to pedagogical transformations (learning by project, hybridisation, use of learning analytics for education.)
- the observatory that collects and processes data in order to support implemented actions, by deploying appropriate analysis methods, accessing results and impacts (indicator monitoring), and contributing to the development of predictive models (machine learning and deep learning) and learning analytic tools.
- and above all, six thematic « pedagogical fablabs » structured around the excellence of research carried out by Basque Country and adapted to the six areas of the territory’s economic strategy :
- international actions
- physical exercise and health
- constructions and low-carbon materials
- digital engineering
- aquatic environment
- food security
« These fablabs offer organised areas for UPPA students to be major actors of their training. In there, they create projects from professional world in which they put into practice acquired theorical knowledges, through an approach of authentic experience situation.
The offered projects connect students, teachers, and professional partners/stakeholders to enable students develop disciplinary, situational, and transversal skills »
Christian La Borderie, scientific director of the project
By resting on these new spaces, open to partners and citizens, UPPA aims the opening by 2028 of 21 new progammes (or tracks) : 2 engineering programmes, 8 master’s degrees, 7 bachelor’s degrees, 2 double bachelor’s degrees, 1 professional bachelor’s degree, and 1 BUT (university bachelor of technology).
The offered trainings, will be based on the three-part work of pedagogical innovation, research excellence, and alignment to the economic needs of the territory.
The call for projects « ExcellenceS »
The call for projects « Excellence in every shape and form », known as ExcellenceS, aims to support higher education and research institutions leaders of an ambitious transformation project in the implementation of their strategy, created from their territorial dynamics and their specific needs.
UPPA is one of the 15 winners of the 1st wave, out of a total of 3 waves and 46 winners chosen between 2021 and 2023.
IREKIA therefore benefits from 8.8 million euros in French government funding, managed by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the Programme d’Investissements d’Avenir n°4 « Excellence in every shape and form » / France 2030 (ref. ANR-21-EXES-0006-002), for a project with a total budget exceeding 30 million euros, with the co-funding provided by University of Pau and Pays de l’Adour (UPPA), CNRS, and INRAE.
Contact
Christian La Borderie, scientific director of the project