Adapting the educational program

A common training base for all our students: 

Since the start of the 2023 academic year, all our Common Core students (1er cycle) acquire a common base of knowledge and skills on the challenges of ecological transition for sustainable development. Four themes are covered, in a systemic approach that is both technical and humanistic, essential for raising awareness of the nature of the issues at stake:

• climate change

• biodiversity and its preservation

• resources and their availability

• the question of a fair and equitable transition

From the start of the 2024 academic year, this common foundation will take the form of a dedicated UE, corresponding to 30 hours of classes and awarding 3 ECTS. 

• Representation of TEDS in training programs :

• 15% of EUs address TEDS,

• Evaluative skills repositories integrate DDRS issues,

• All branches are tackling the subject.

Raising awareness on a daily basis

Systematic awareness-raising campaigns for students and staff

Several workshops on climate change and environmental energy impact were organized:

• The Climate Fresco

• The BigConf

• The 2-tonne workshop 

Various conferences discussing socio-environmental issues were organized. These included: 

• "The hidden face of sustainable development; mining"10/22/20, Aurore Stephant

• Decarbonization round table: 29/11/2022

• Hydrogen and human sciences round table, 18/07/23

• Decarbonizing the building industry (round table), 28/11/23

• "What are the strategies for dealing with the systemic risks of the 21st century? ", 21/03/24, Arthur Keller, expert in "systemicsystemic risks"and resilience strategiesresilience strategies
• "Why companies should commit to biodiversity (youtube.com) "04/04/24, Vincent Roullet in charge of the economy and innovation at the Agence Régionale de la Biodiversité BFC (BFC Regional Biodiversity Agency)

• September 26, 2024: "Taking our future in hand", students of the "Pour un Réveil Ecologique" collective

• October 10, 2024: "Sauver les rivières comtoises!", Manon Sylvant (SOS Loue et Rivières Comtoises)

• November 14: Climate change will affect your careers by The Shifters.

• Annual inter-UT training

What's more, the UT group (the consortium of UTBM, UTT and UTC) has undertaken to organize a "Sustainable Engineering" training course each year for its staff in residential mode: "Quelle(s) posture(s) technologique(s) au sein des UT pour construire une société soutenable" ("What technological posture(s) within UTs to build a sustainable society"). 

Seminars :

• July 2022: "low-tech" near Compiègne à link to video reports if still available?

• August 2023: "Planetary frontiers", in Luxeuil les Bains near Belfort à Link to video + add photos

• August 2024: "Biodiversity biodiversity", near Troyes Troyes

Content in progress

Environmental management

Since 2015 the establishment has formalized its environmental management system to reduce its environmental impacts, in particular to reduce its energy consumption. This commitment applies to all the University's sites, regardless of the activities carried out. It is symbolized by ISO14001 certification. It is important to emphasize that this approach is possible thanks to the mobilization of the entire university community, and more particularly with the network of prevention assistants who act as relays within FISE and FISA, laboratories and departments. Several campaigns have been carried out to raise awareness and encourage the community to change its practices with regard to these issues. As a result, paper consumption has fallen by 60% over the past ten years.

Building renovation

Content in progress

Biodiversity on campus

UTBM wants to manage its green spaces in a more sustainable way. Since 2022, part of the Sevenans site has been managed using eco-pasture. When properly carried out, this management practice is said to be ecological. The benefits are manifold:

• Ecological: maintaining local ecosystems, reducing carbon footprint and noise pollution by avoiding the use of thermal machines,

• Economical; reduced maintenance costs in the medium term,

• Social: reducing the arduousness of the landscape worker's job (particularly on surfaces that are difficult to maintain),

• Educational; raising awareness of ecological management methods.

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Transport

All three UTBM sites are easily accessible by soft mobility.

• Bus  

Belfort and Sevenans campuses: using the network Optymo

Montbéliard campus: using the network evolity

• Bike  

Bicycle paths, most of which are separate from the road, also pass in front of the sites or just a few hundred metres away. There are bike shelters on all three campuses.

Examples of itineraries: 

> Belfort campus from downtown Belfort : https://maps.app.goo.gl/kTwwh9r3wCnkyUCQ7

> Sevenans campus from Belfort city center : https://maps.app.goo.gl/sVDBkXYUqTcZthmm9

> Montbéliard campus from Montbéliard town center : https://maps.app.goo.gl/qWsm8kekw1FjwzyZ6

For the brave, this route joins the campuses of Belfort to Montbéliard via Sevenans: https://maps.app.goo.gl/EcUFnJw1uyykksbZ9

• Carpooling 

Of course, carpooling is encouraged at UTBM! On the Sevenans site, there are marked parking spaces reserved for cars with several people in them.

UTBM AE students have signed an advantageous partnership agreement with Karos (a home-work car-sharing application). The application facilitates carpooling for all members of the UTBM community, and is subsidized by local authorities. Please refer to the application for examples:

Un trajet <30km en covoiturage jusqu’à, ou au départ de, un des sites de l’UTBM est gratuit pour un/les passager(s). 

The driver, on the same route, is paid €2 per passenger.

Because social cohesion is an essential aspect of future transitions, UTBM has long pursued an ambitious social policy focused on quality of life at work, inclusion and equal opportunities.

Attesting to this conviction, UTBM has been ISO 45001 certified since 2019. This ISO standard covers "occupational health and safety management systems", enabling both operational and strategic management, as well as a commitment to continuous improvement, notably through monitoring using pre-established indicators. Within this framework, a system has been set up for reporting occupational health and safety risks, whether physical or psychosocial. A hotline has also been set up to monitor and guide victims of sexual and gender-based violence.

In addition, since 2022 and for a period of 4 years, UTBM has signed a Quality of Life and Working Conditions (QLWC) agreement. The aim of this approach is to improve the well-being of employees in the workplace, while reconciling this with the establishment's overall performance. In addition, the school has set up task forces to deal with key human issues such as gender equality, racism and anti-Semitism, and disability. More recently, UTBM drew up its master plan and disability charter.

In 2024, a new professional equality plan for students and staff has been agreed for a period of 3 years. The "equal opportunities" dimension has been strongly reinforced, with a section of the plan specifically dedicated to it. The aim is to prevent inequalities between individuals during their professional or academic careers.

The Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM) stands out for its commitment to offering a rich and fulfilling student life. Engineering training is demanding and rigorous, and requires an optimal balance between studies and extracurricular activities. With this in mind, UTBM has formalized and adopted its student life master plan for the year 2024. It aims to create a varied and stimulating environment, conducive both to academic success and to students' personal and professional development.

A number of projects related to DDRS issues are funded each year by the school's Contribution à la Vie Etudiante et de Campus (CVEC).

These include

> https://www.wecount.io/mon-empreinte-etudiante (optimized for students)

> I calculate my carbon impact