At UTC, there are no impos­si­ble paths to achiev­ing your goals. Inclu­sion, com­mit­ment, inno­va­tion and adap­ta­tion to pro­files, spe­cif­ic needs and unique stu­dent back­grounds, the uni­ver­si­ty of tech­nol­o­gy at Com­piègne enables every­one to achieve their per­son­al potential.

Pugnac­i­ty, pos­i­tivism, resilience… There are stu­dents who stand out for their abil­i­ty to achieve their goals. With her degree in com­put­er engi­neer­ing in hand, Mar­i­on Durand left Com­piègne to return to her native Mar­seille, where, fresh­ly hired since Sep­tem­ber, the 24-yearold grad­u­ate has joined the team at Bib­li­bre, an inno­v­a­tive and social­ly respon­si­ble com­pa­ny spe­cial­is­ing in open-source soft­ware and ser­vices for libraries. «I did my mid-course place­ment there (TN09). Every­thing went real­ly well. They final­ly hired me, says Mar­i­on Durand, who didn’t hes­i­tate to invest an extra year of study in order to obtain a master’s degree in health engi­neer­ing at UTC after her engi­neer­ing diplo­ma. For Mar­i­on Durand, UTC was an obvi­ous choice: «The engi­neer­ing school was one of my choic­es because it responds to the spe­cif­ic needs of stu­dents and finds solu­tions adapt­ed to atyp­i­cal pro­files, such as exam arrange­ments. Some insti­tu­tions don’t invest as much as UTC. Both dys­praxic and dyslex­ic, Mar­i­on Durand has been using com­put­ers and soft­ware to take notes, adapt fonts, use editable doc­u­ments and accu­mu­lates solu­tions as she learns. Com­put­ers are an inte­gral part of the pro­file and life of the now com­put­er engi­neer: «With­out a com­put­er, I would nev­er have hoped for more than the bac­calau­réat or a BTS. The UTC’s stu­dent dis­abil­i­ty office was very atten­tive, just as the teach­ing staff were com­mit­ted and will­ing to under­stand and find solu­tions. Since my arrival, I’ve been very well sup­port­ed and I’ve nev­er felt alone or iso­lat­ed. At UTC I was able to choose every course I want­ed to take.

‘Adaptation is à la carte’

To make every­day life eas­i­er and improve inde­pen­dence for every­one, UTC has put in place a mul­ti­tude of solu­tions to adapt to the needs of each indi­vid­ual and to offer the best pos­si­ble con­di­tions for wel­com­ing every­one. «There is no sin­gle solu­tion. That’s the very essence of UTC,’ empha­sis­es Vir­ginie Leviel, the university’s stu­dent dis­abil­i­ty offi­cer, who this year is sup­port­ing 141 stu­dents through to their pro­fes­sion­al inte­gra­tion. From human assis­tance to organ­i­sa­tion­al or tech­ni­cal help, the stu­dent dis­abil­i­ty liai­son offi­cer iden­ti­fies and analy­ses the spe­cif­ic edu­ca­tion­al needs for adapt­ing stud­ies and exam­i­na­tions: help with note­tak­ing for lessons, tutor­ing among stu­dents, pro­vi­sion of mate­ri­als and equip­ment, extra time allowed for exam com­po­si­tion, adap­ta­tion of sub­jects, adjust­ment of the timetable, etc. The edu­ca­tion­al adap­ta­tion is done on an à la carte basis. Organ­i­sa­tion­al assis­tance is also tak­en into account through cross-dis­ci­pli­nary and inter­ac­tive work with the school, the resources made avail­able, trav­el and even pre­ven­tive med­i­cine. Inclu­sive, UTC is con­stant­ly adapt­ing and pro­gress­ing in all areas!

Work and pedal ! Zero stress !

UTC is one of the first high­er edu­ca­tion estab­lish­ments in France to have acquired this sort of equip­ment. The instal­la­tion of desk bikes and dynam­ic stools in the library on April 15 is part of the pro­mo­tion of phys­i­cal activ­i­ty among all stu­dents, as set out in the mas­ter plan for improv­ing stu­dent life at the UTC. Co-financed by the Con­tri­bu­tion de vie étu­di­ante et de cam­pus (CVEC) and the UTC’s dis­abil­i­ty relay, this equip­ment ben­e­fits every­one. «The stool requires you to sit up straight to avoid mus­cu­loskele­tal dis­or­ders, while the desk bike con­sists of a height-adjustable table adapt­ed to a ped­alling sys­tem. It makes it eas­i­er for stu­dents with atten­tion prob­lems to con­cen­trate, reduces stress and makes a seden­tary activ­i­ty more dynam­ic,’ explains Véronique Hédou, a teacher-researcher in applied math­e­mat­ics in charge of stu­dent life. Many stu­dents need to do some­thing else while they work’.

As soon as the equip­ment was installed, stu­dents were enthu­si­as­tic about it, and it could even­tu­al­ly be found at oth­er UTC mul­ti-activ­i­ty sites. In con­junc­tion with the stu­dents, the uni­ver­si­ty is also con­sid­er­ing the intro­duc­tion of chal­lenges such as the num­ber of steps to be com­plet­ed or the num­ber of steps to be climbed, where pos­si­ble. Véronique Hédou adds: ‘In the near future, we’re going to open an iso­la­tion room where you can “recharge your bat­ter­ies”. This is some­thing that stu­dents have typ­i­cal­ly asked us for, as is the instal­la­tion of a weightlift­ing room in the Crous res­i­dence. With more than a hun­dred actions includ­ed in the mas­ter plan for improv­ing stu­dent life to be imple­ment­ed by 2028, the UTC has no short­age of means or resources, let alone ambi­tions for opti­mal study conditions.

IL