Their campus, installed in a majestic classified building of the 19th century, overlooks the old port and the sea. The 350 students from Sciences Po Menton benefit from an exceptional schooling framework … but for how long? The contract which allowed the school to be accommodated free of charge by the municipality for eleven years will end in June 2025. “For the moment, the mayor and Sciences Po are in the process of discussing the coming methods”, confides François Leonelli, the chief of staff of the mayor Yves Juhel. Before continuing: “Nothing is acted at the moment, but it is certain that it is in our interest to keep Sciences Po with us”. No doubt not under the same conditions as before since the city could, in the future, request the payment of a rent. It could also reduce the duration of the next contract to five years instead of eleven. What disturb the fragile financial balance of this campus specializing in the study of the Middle East and the Arab countries.
Certainly, the Riviera antenna of the prestigious school on rue Saint-Guillaume, which has 65 % of international students, has accumulated setbacks for several months. After the attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023 and the Israeli response in Gaza, the tension had mounted a notch. Last fall, the blockages and violent demonstrations of Propalestinian activists, but also acts of intimidation with regard to Jewish students, had led to a suspension of the subsidies granted by the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. Hard blow for the chin campus which previously received 125,000 euros per year from the region. In total, since 2017, the community had supported it up to 1.3 million euros. “Menton is a bit like the sparadrap of Captain Haddock for some time,” summarizes this senior official very aware of the maneuvers that are playing behind the scenes.
The neighboring campus of Italy is one of the six sites today installed in the region, with Le Havre, Dijon, Nancy, Poitiers and Reims. This relocation policy was born at the turn of the millennium under the presidency of Richard Descoings. If Sciences Po moved to the Côte d’Azur in 2005, it is also and above all for budgetary reasons. “Everything was paid by the city, the region, the department … which represented a considerable financial interest”, explains Pierre Mathiot, the former director of Sciences Po Lille. “It must be recognized that at the time, the choice of chin was a total nonsense on the educational level since there are no large universities nearby and that it is very complicated to bring the teachers until then,” he continues. In a so-called “eco-responsible” approach, the school tends to favor train travel. This represents a 6:30 p.m. route from Paris.
A year from the municipal elections, the subject takes a very political turn. “Sciences Po today no longer has its place in Menton. There are many schools that are asking for an establishment in the town, including training that would allow us to keep long -term students on French soil,” said deputy RN Alexandra Masson on February 7 on the BFM Nice Côte d’Azur set. Sandra Paire, municipal councilor of the opposition, pronounces conversely for the maintenance of this “international brand” that represents Sciences Po: “It would be a shame to condemn the institution for slippages of a small handful of individuals. Nor should we forget the economic value of such an implantation. Students make restaurants, stores, supermarkets and the rental sector live”.
On February 24, the president of Sciences Po, Luis Vassy, went to Marseille to meet various elected officials and local actors … including members of the regional council chaired by Renaud Muselier. “During this exchange, Luis Vassy told us that he wanted us to continue supporting the Menton branch,” said Georges Leonetti, regional councilor delegated to higher education and research. Again, elected officials reserve their answers. “The budgetary situation obliges us to make arbitrations. We told Mr. Vassy that we would come back to him as soon as we have analyzed the situation,” explains Georges Leonetti, who also confides closely monitoring the atmosphere that reigns on the campus.
This recent visit by Luis Vassy in the Marseille city gave rise to various interpretations. “Sciences Po would plan to move his Menton campus to Marseille”, thus titled a dispatch from the AEF on February 28. Causing a lot of eddies locally. “There is no question of moving the Sciences Po Menton campus in Marseille”, forcefully denies the communication department of the Great School. “Development projects in different territories are currently being studied”, but “they are completely disconnected from the future of our campus in Menton which also works very well”, we continue. With a few nuances.
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