The OpenLab ESPOIR project is a third-party space offering an innovative educational initiative to help students in precarious situations to succeed at university and enter the job market. The project is innovative: no other French university has such an OpenLab. The ESPOIR OpenLab represents a new phase in the development of the Commission de Solidarité Etudiante (CSE – Student Solidarity Commission)’s actions, which are focused on tackling the various aspects of student vulnerability (e.g. food, housing, health, clothing). It has three main focuses:
- Pedagogical support to help students succeed at university, with individualized pedagogical follow-up (integrative and multidisciplinary assessment, academic support), tutoring and mentoring, as well as training for students and those involved (uB staff and committed citizens).
- Educational resources to help students succeed at university, with a workspace in the immediate vicinity of the SSC and a resource center offering both generic and specialized teaching materials.
- Support for professionalization within the framework of an unprecedented partnership between the CSE and various structures grouping together companies and employers to create a platform that will offer a strong porosity between students in precarious situations and the socio-economic world, thus facilitating internships, work-study programs, as well as medium- and long-term employment. This platform will also enable companies to discover these students in a different context.
Involved in the development and evaluation of this OpenLab, IREDU is the partner of the uB SSC for a 3-year period starting in September 2024, thanks to the support of the ANR via the NCU RITM-BFC.