Our ambitions, our commitments

UTC's commitment to the challenges of ecological and societal transition at the heart of its institutional strategy

UTC was foun­ded in 1972 with a major ambi­tion, to modi­fy the rela­tion­ship bet­ween science, tech­no­lo­gy and Socie­ty, inte­gra­ting inter­dis­ci­pli­na­ri­ty, the social dimen­sion and a strong rela­tion­ship with socio-indus­trial circles. UTC has always been proac­tive in adap­ting its research, tea­ching and inno­va­tions to anti­ci­pate and respond, with a sys­te­mic approach, to the world's evo­lu­tions. In this way, it has constant­ly contri­bu­ted to tech­no­lo­gi­cal deve­lop­ments, while taking care to also inte­gra­ting socie­tal implications.

Today, we are faced with immense chal­lenges lin­ked to glo­bal change (cli­mate change, the col­lapse of bio­di­ver­si­ty, the water cri­sis, etc.). We are taking the full mea­sure of these chal­lenges and are aware of the role that our engi­nee­ring school has to play. Tomorrow's engi­neers and resear­chers must be capable of hel­ping to meet these cru­cial chal­lenges for the future of the planet.

We believe in the power of research, edu­ca­tion, inno­va­tion and col­la­bo­ra­tion to shape a more sus­tai­nable future for us all.

The eco­lo­gi­cal tran­si­tion and social com­mit­ment (TE&ES) the­re­fore represent a major concern for our engi­nee­ring school. That's why TE&ES is a cross-cut­ting theme, an inte­gral part of all the institution's mis­sions: research, edu­ca­tion, inno­va­tion, student life and cam­pus life. Our deve­lop­ments and choices are to be vie­wed through this impor­tant prism.

Nume­rous actions are alrea­dy being car­ried out by the UTC inter­nal­ly and within the fra­me­work of part­ner­ships. This trend is acce­le­ra­ting and has been gai­ning in momen­tum ever since 2021, with a num­ber of miles­tones worth mentioning:

Setting up a network of TE&ES coordinators within UTC’s Departments and laboratories

At the heart of the UTC's Depart­ments and labo­ra­to­ries, this net­work allows us to be as close as pos­sible to the acti­vi­ties and spe­ci­fi­ci­ties of each enti­ty in edu­ca­tion and research. It contri­butes not only to com­mu­ni­ca­tion and the trans­mis­sion of infor­ma­tion, but also to the imple­men­ta­tion of the various TE&ES orien­ted projects.

Co-construction with the UTC community: a step towards the emergence of decisions as to priority actions for the transformation of the institution

UTC is com­mit­ted at its highest mana­ge­ment levels to for­ma­li­sing a stra­te­gy for sus­tai­nable deve­lop­ment and social res­pon­si­bi­li­ty in a pro­cess of co-construc­tion and consul­ta­tion with stu­dents and staff. In 2022, the first phase of this work was car­ried out thanks to the conve­ning of regu­lar wor­king par­ties on six themes inherent to the institution's main mis­sions and pro­cesses, namely:

• Research and innovation ;
• Student and staff training ;
• Com­mu­ni­ca­tion ;
• Inter-cam­pus transfers ;
• Pro­per­ty management ;
• Admi­nis­tra­tive management.

These groups mobi­li­sed staff and stu­dents, who wor­ked from Janua­ry to June 2022 and came up with a list of actions that could be car­ried out within the ins­ti­tu­tion over the coming three years. To conclude this first phase, the entire UTC com­mu­ni­ty, stu­dents and staff, were consul­ted on this list of pro­po­sed actions by means of a survey.

35 actions were appro­ved, clas­si­fied by order of per­cei­ved impor­tance and/or prio­ri­ty and pre­sen­ted to the Board of Direc­tors in Octo­ber 2022. We have imple­men­ted a large num­ber of the actions at the top of the list, inclu­ding the crea­tion of a core cur­ri­cu­lum for new entrants and we are conti­nuing the work of trans­for­ming the institution.

Signature of the Grenobles Agreement

Creation of the Department for Ecological Transition and Societal Commitment

The new Direc­to­rate for Eco­lo­gi­cal Tran­si­tion and Socie­tal Com­mit­ment was crea­ted. In 2023, Isa­belle Cailleau was appoin­ted Direc­tor in June 2023 and she is a mem­ber of the school's Aca­de­mic Mana­ge­ment Com­mit­tee. This cross-func­tio­nal depart­ment works with all of the institution's sta­ke­hol­ders to deve­lop our prac­tices and ways of thinking.

UTC is thus com­mit­ted to acce­le­ra­ting the eco­lo­gi­cal tran­si­tion of higher edu­ca­tion and research by trai­ning tomorrow's gene­ra­tions and its staff, while buil­ding a cam­pus that is roo­ted in its ter­ri­to­ry and inclu­sive. All these awa­re­ness-rai­sing and ener­gi­sing actions are the first steps towards an in-depth trans­for­ma­tion of the ins­ti­tu­tion, the concrete imple­men­ta­tion of which should lead to the award of the SD&SR (DD&RS) Label in the years to come.