Universités numériques en région

From Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education

Towards a system of digital regional policy and spatial planning

In order to spread the use of digital services and to industrialize the ENT process (digital workspaces), and also to maintain and make durable the whole system, it was necessary to involve a critical mass of stakeholders on a mutualization basis.

Via the call for proposals “UNR” (Regional digital universities), the experience gained through the selected projects allowed a transfer of method and competences among the HEI. It also affected the institutions' “four-year-plans”.

The UNR projects were built on tripartite contracts of agreed objectives whose signatories were the French government, regional authorities and other partners) for a two-year-period with the pledge to:

• develop digital services -especially ENTs- and offer them to all students
• respect regional planning principles
• provide support to facilitate the use of digital services

These are the services that are offered via the ENT :

• Digital office
• Tuition services
• General services
• Documentary Services
• Communication Services
• Pedagogical Services

Regions where a project was financed :

• Alsace-UNERA,
• Aquitaine-ACOR,
• Bretagne-UNB,
• Grand Est-UNIRE,
• Languedoc-Roussillon-UOMLR,
• Nord Pas de Calais-UNRNPDC,
• Poitou-Charentes-UNR-PC,
• Provence Alpes Côtes d'Azur-UNRPACA,
• Réunion-UNR Réunion, Rhône Alpes-UNRA.

Update in 2006 : Out of 11 active projects involving around 580 000 students, nine UNR (regional digital universities) made of 35 institutions chose the ESUP ; one UNR (Alsace-UNERA), made of 3 institutions, chose EPPUN ; and one last UNR (Rhône-Alpes UNRA) gathering 5 institutions chose ENCORA.

Some services have reached a high level of deployment : common services, communication, digital office and pedagogics, whereas the integration of certain services is more complex, such as documentation and pedagogical services.

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