Article L711-1 of the French Education Code states that "public scientific, cultural and professional institutions are managed democratically with the participation of all staff, students and external figures".
The university is administered by central councils which are involved in running the university through their decisions or opinions.
These bodies are composed of representatives elected by the staff and students, as well as external figures.
These representatives serve a 4-year term (2 years for student representatives).
The central councils include the Board of Directors and the Academic Council, which is composed of the Research Committee and the Education and Student Life Committee.
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors (Conseil d'administration - CA) determines the institution’s policies and strategy and, as such, approves the university’s institutional contract, votes on the budget and approves the accounts.
It is responsible for deliberating on all matters submitted by the President, in light of the opinions and recommendations of the Academic Council, and approves all budget-related decisions made by the Council’s committees.
The Research Committee
The Academic Council’s Research Committee allocates the resources for research as allocated by the Board of Directors and subject to the strategic framework for its allocation as defined by the Board of Directors. It sets the operating rules for the laboratories and is involved in agreements with research organisations. It adopts measures to enable students to develop activities for the distribution of scientific, technical and industrial culture.
The Education and Student Life Committee
The Academic Council’s Education and Student Life Committee is consulted on the training programmes of the different departments. It decides on:
allocating resources for training, as provided by the Board of Directors, and subject to compliance with the strategic framework for its allocation, as defined by the Board of Directors;
examination rules;
the rules for evaluating lessons;
measures to ensure the success of as many students as possible;
measures to provide support for students and recognition of prior learning, to help students enter the workforce and to promote cultural, sporting, social and associative activities for students, as well as measures to improve living and working conditions, including measures relating to support activities, university and educational facilities, medical and social services, libraries and documentation centres and access to digital resources;
measures to promote and develop interactions between science and society, initiated and led by students or research professors, both within the institutions and in the region in which they are based;
the necessary measures for hosting and ensuring the success of students with disabilities or disabling health conditions, in accordance with the obligations of higher education institutions.
The Academic Council
The Academic Council is composed of the Research Committee and the Education and Student Life Committee. It is consulted on or may issue recommendations concerning educational and research policy guidelines. It proposes a multi-annual master plan for disability policies and is also consulted on all measures to ensure students’ academic, trade union and political freedoms.
The Council is composed exclusively of research professors and is responsible for examining individual questions relating to the recruitment, assignment and careers of research professors. It deliberates on integrating civil servants from other bodies into the teaching and research faculty and on the hiring or renewing employment of temporary teaching and research assistants.
The Board of directors of the different departments
Composed of the directors of the different departments (the Training and Research Department, the University Institute of Technology and the Midi-Pyrénées Observatory), it is associated with preparing and implementing the decisions made by the Board of Directors and the Academic Council committees. It also participates in defining the operational implementation of the university’s strategic decisions.
