Every national EURAXESS network has a bridgehead organisation (ENO) which acts as a coordinator at the national level and liaise with the European Commission, national governments and other organisations.
They coordinate and support the whole network of EURAXESS and Career development centres at the national level and represent their countries at the meetings at the European level.
The EURAXESS France network is coordinated by the French Rectors’ Conference.
The French Rectors' Conference (France Universités) gathers executives of the 74 French universities, including 6 ultra-marine universities and 3 universities of technology, 2 écoles centrales, 4 national institutes of applied sciences, 3 national polytechnic institutes, 4 écoles normales supérieures, 16 grands établissements, 5 French schools abroad and 8 COMUEs, representing 1.6 million students.
France Universités thus garthers 116 members on the national territory and represents, via its links with institutions and schools, the main force in terms of higher education, research and innovation in France.
France Universités participates actively in the public debate on education issues, and plays a proactive consulting and negotiating role with the public authorities, the various higher education and research networks, social and economic partners and national and international institutions.
Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie
Association EURAXESS France
Rue du Trône 100
1050 Bruxelles
BELGIQUE
Are you a French institution interested in cooperation with the EURAXESS France network? Please contact us for further information.
Coordinated by the French Rectors' Conference since 2009, the French network was incorporated as an association in January 2013.
The EURAXESS France association is made up of 45 members, institutions hosting EURAXESS centres (COMUEs, universities, associations, foundations) and associated organisations which are represented through the association's bodies.
A) Founding members: Conférence des Présidents d'Université (presidency) Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris (vice-presidency) Association Bernard Gregory B) Members (hosting a EURAXESS centre): Aix-Marseille Université Université d'Angers Université d'Avignon Université de Bordeaux Université de Bordeaux Montaigne Université de Bourgogne Université de Bretagne Occidentale Université Bretagne Sud Université de Caen Université de Cergy-Pontoise Université Clermont Auvergne Université de Corse Pasquale Paoli Université Côte d'Azur Université de Franche-Comté Université Grenoble-Alpes Université Jean Monnet Université de La Rochelle Université Lille Nord de France Université de Limoges Université de Lorraine Université de Lyon Le Mans Université Université de Nantes Association Chercheurs Étrangers à Nantes Université d'Orléans |
C) Associated members INSERM Institut Pasteur Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière |
- The association has two bodies: Board of Directors and General Assembly.
- The Board of Directors is made up of 8 members, consisting of 3 permanent members, the founding members of the EURAXESS France association - France Universités, Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, Association Bernard Gregory - and 5 non-permanent members elected by the General Assembly.
- The General Assembly is made up of representatives of all members of the EURAXESS France association. The assembly is led by the president of the French Rector's conference and meets regularly twice a year.
- The association convenes a general meeting twice a year.
- These meetings are generally structured in 2 phases, a first phase dedicated to the board of directors and the general meeting in order to deal with the association's organisational issues, and a second phase called a "national EURAXESS France days" more focused on activites of EURAXESS service centres.
- The network works in close collaboration with the relevant Ministries (Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs) via, for example, annual meetings organised during national EURAXESS France days enabling updates to be provided on current legislative developments, direct communications in the event of any malfunction on the ground, together with any consultations on future developments.
The French EURAXESS network articulates its work around 7 working groups aimed at facilitating the reception and mobility of foreign researchers:
- the "housing" group has published a bilingual guide for foreign researchers detailing French housing practices; a new interactive version of this guide shall be available soon.
- the "communication" group is responsible for developing promotional tools for the EURAXESS France network;
- the "ALFRED" group: the network has a database allowing service centres to set up detailed follow-ups for persons who have been provided with accommodation and assistance. This database is set up and run by FnAK-CiUP and is based on voluntary registrations. The working group is responsible for monitoring the national database of foreign researchers,
- the "best practices/quality" group, is responsible for setting up an identification system and system for the exchange of best practices within the French network.
- the "procedures" group has sent various ministries a series of comprehensive proposals in relation to migration procedures affecting foreign researchers (harmonisation of prefectural practices, changes of status, renewal of residence permits, etc.).
- the "trainings" group is responsible for identifying network members' needs and responding to them by offering appropriate training.
- the "EURAXESS portal"group has been created to update the content of the French national EURAXESS portal and to improve the quantity and the quality of information that reserchers can find on this portal.
- Example of our activities: the General Assembly of the EURAXESS network, a time for presentations, reflection on current projects and training.
This video has been created by: ComUE Languedoc-Roussillon Universités.
EURAXESS centres are coordinated by national bridgehead organisations appointed by the respective ministries of each participating country. On behalf of France, the participation in the EURAXESS project is managed by the CPU (French Rectors’ Conference) office in Brussels.
The national network coordinators are also grouped together in a common project called “EURAXESS TOP” funded by the European research and innovation programmeHorizon 2020.
The past EURAXESS TOP III project (Enhancing the Outreach and Effectiveness of the EURAXESS Network Partners) - continuity of TOP and TOP II projects - reinforced the transnational cooperation, helped the network to work on common issues and developed new tools for the centres of the European EURAXESS network. Learn more about the TOPIII project on its website.
The on-going TOP IV project (Open EURAXESS - To strengthen the effectiveness and optimise the services of an innovative EURAXESS network), which started in September 2018 for a period of three years, aims at improving the quality of services offered by the EURAXESS centres and introduce innovative methods to improve the career development of mobile researchers.