Back against the wall, computer on your knees and the stairs as a work table. The scene is immortalized by a teacher from the University of Strasbourg. Facing him, an amphitheater packed with students. Some were unable to return for lack of space. Several sectors, especially in law, have experienced the situation and are forced to return to distance learning courses to unclog classes.
Magisterial court on the stairs
Louise is in the second year of STAPS, in sports sciences, and the start of the school year is not easy for the young girl: “We end up with too many people, we are sitting on the floor, on the steps taking notes, without a table, without a chair. ”
The latest arrivals sometimes even have to turn back. “We say to ourselves: are we going to have a place? And even if we have one, will we be able to follow?“Asks the student. The students organize a rally this Wednesday, October 13, at 2 pm, to be heard. The situation does not only concern Strasbourg. In Rennes, Nantes, or Le Mans, the STAPS sectors are also in the midst of a crisis under the hasstag # STAPSoubliés, to denounce the lack of means.
Third-year law students in Strasbourg are also experiencing difficulties. The two amphitheatres sometimes host “up to 250 students“breaths Capucine, while they only have a capacity of 150 places. At his side, Glen has an explanation:”We are no longer this year because more students have managed to move on to the upper years, especially with distance exams. ”
Back to distancing
The start of the year was therefore neck and neck, before the university decided: students alternate between distance and face-to-face in certain streams “We are used to this system, we weren’t surprised, but we have testimonials from students who tell us that they must have had a hard time following at a distance, connection problems, sometimes there are courses that skip“, regrets Capucine, law student, before adding that the management of the university”is doing everything she can to help us.”
This formula worries Lucas Weill, union representative of Solidaires Etudiant Alsace: “It is feared that the distance course will be perpetuated, including after the Covid-19 crisis. Let this become a sort of stopgap instead of having a real plan to invest in personnel and buildings.”
The problem cannot be explained only with the Covid-19 crisis. “I think we are fair, faced with the increase in staff for ten years and the campus cannot grow ad vitam aeternam“, observes Fabrice Favret, dean of the faculty of STAPS. According to him, the lack of place also affects the fields of life sciences and psychology.