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Services to be drunk in... no moderation
Terrestrial foo, university catering : They are not certainly
" 4 stars " restaurants, you will not eat there the reputed French
gastronomy. You will even sometimes find the menus a little bit
repetitive. But one thing is sure : university canteens - " Restos-U
" or " RU " in the university jargon - are unbeatable in terms of
price.
The university restaurants are managed by the Crous. The network
is made up of two types of establishments :
about 500 traditional restaurants directly managed by the Crous
: restos-U ;
300 approved restaurants, generally situated in establishments from
the public sector (secondary school, city halls…), which provide
the remote students with restos-U (mostly the pupils of BTS, IUT,
preparatory classes) with low prices, but often a little more expensive.
Figures
The university restaurants, about 150 000 places for more than two
million students. This remains insufficient even if the number of
Restos-U is on the rise. In 2000/2001, 67 million meals were served
in restaurants managed or approved by the Crous.
Conditions of access and price
The holders of the student card have access to all the university
canteens in France. The students registered in a superior establishment
approved by the student Social Security benefit from the national
rate, fixed by the board of directors of the Cnous to the 2,33 euro
rate for 2001/2002.
The German students in France and the holders of the French-German
card of the university works benefit from the same rate. Tickets
are for sale in the Crous or in the ticket offices of restaurants
at mealtimes.
Some restos-U are opened in the evening, the weekends and during
the university holidays. The Crous of your city will give you the
complete list of the restaurants, with days and the schedules of
opening.
In your plate
As for the very meal, it consists generally in an starter, a main
dish (meat or fish) with vegetables and then, cheese or a dessert.
According to restos-U, one can have a dessert or a supplementary
starter or ask for a supplement of vegetables. Of all the types
of university restaurants, this " classic " formula (complete meal
served in self-service for a ticket) remains the most widely.
A piece of advice : some restos-U
are better than others. Choose indeed. Rely on the experience of
former students who already know the " good addresses ". Also track
down the good hour to avoid rush.
A much better quality of the meals
In spite of the criticisms expressed by the students - or thanks
to them - the Crous has made, for several years, huge efforts to
improve the quality of the proposed services. The modern dietary
customs especially led the Crous to compose menus with a real concern
of the dietary balance and a will to makes students discover the
tastes of the traditional French cuisine.
On the other hand the objectives announced by the Crous for the
years to come are the following ones :
restaurants closer to the education establishments ;
use of buffets to accelerate the flows of passage ;
more adapted open hours ;
new modes of payment (cards, magnetic badges…).
If during your first meals at the university restaurant, you were
not completely convinced by these efforts to make you satisfied,
you should know that, every year, the Cnous organizes a national
competition " Chefs, to your menus " to award the title of best
university restaurant refectory, with a jury made up of famous chefs.
Beside the traditional restos-U, the Crous has been developing for
some years new diversified formulae of meal :
original restaurants in most university towns : grill, brewery,
pizzeria, Chinese restaurant, vegetarian or tex-mex : many points
of relaxation, meeting, animation.
Formulae " around a dish " : salads, roasted meat, fresh pastas
or pizza.
Light units open all day in places of residence or universities
: cafeteria, brewery, viennoiserie, sandwiches, pancakes or take
away…
These formulae will allow you to change your daily meals or to avoid
the lines of the university restaurant in the daytime when you are
particularly in a hurry.
Unfortunately, the prices are often much higher than at the university
restaurant, but, they remain competitive (between 4 and 5 euros).
Payment in cash.
Worth knowing : several Crous
offer services of medical social food restoration, which aim at
ensuring a particular to those with health problems.
Beside the services of the Crous a new type of private restaurants
(cafeterias, sandwicheries…) settle on the campuses. Their development
is " justified " by the Crous because they make it possible for
the students to eat faster and at any time. But be careful, the
value for money is not always interesting.
Spiritual food : university libraries : Time
when, at the secondary school, you could content yourselves with
textbooks is over. The higher education imposes personal documentation.
On the other hand, every teacher gives you a list of references
to consult to deepen the content of the courses. Impossible to buy
all the books which you will need.
The solution : libraries and, first of all, university library (BU).
A sound piece of advice : you
can register in a university library any time in the year but we
recommend you to do it as soon as possible, that is, as soon as
you have your student card, to understand quickly how it works.
In the case of re-registration, it is generally possible to go to
the library with the card of the previous year, if you have not
yet received your new student card. You will have no specific rights
to pay to go to the BUs, because they are already included in the
tuition fees.
The contents of the BU
The collection of an university library is important in volume (on
average 300 000 references) and diversified : books, periodicals,
duplicated lecture notes, students' works (reports, theses)… It
is generally organized in big sectors of studies, themselves subdivided
into more precise domains. The recent works or frequently wanted
are mostly presented in free access, whereas the rest of the collection
is stored in shops and available through the librarians. To find
them, it will be necessary for you to get acquainted with the catalog
that may be computerized or not.
To help you, let us review some types of present works in the BUs
which will be particularly useful to you in your research :
the works said of reference : encyclopediae (not to confuse with
dictionaries), treaties, collection of texts, they are not to be
read from first to last page but useful to collect information in
precise fields as well as bibliographies allowing to widen the research
;
dictionaries and specialized lexicons : they give exactly the definition
of technical terms, their translation when it is in foreign terms.
They are particularly useful for the scientists, that it is in medicine,
in chemistry, in data processing… ;
catalogs : updated every year, they allow to update your information
in any sorts of fields (statistics, administration, economy…) ;
periodicals allow to inform yourself about the state of the researches
in specialized fields. They give information about the technical
data of a problem. They are particularly appreciated by the students
in legal or technical matters.
Books to take at home
A part of the books can be borrowed, for a time which varies from
some days to two or three weeks and at the rate of three to four
books at the same time. For that purpose, it is beforehand necessary
to have registered in the BU and sometimes to have queued up !
Be careful : some BUs do not hesitate to cross off the students
who return books late.
Books to order
There is a national collective catalog of university libraries.
The untraceable books can be obtained by a loan between university
libraries, says " prêt-inter ". But the universities are not exempted
anymore from some postal charges which, thus, the must be paid by
the students : the price will vary according to the number of kilos
of the books.
The university library also offers less known services : you can
read there the daily papers and magazines of general information,
" import " a thesis from the other end of France, satisfy your thirst
of literature or your taste for the comic strips, meet people… Unfortunately,
an important number of students does not go to BUs because they
feel lost there and do not understand their mechanisms : Do not
be one of those. Do not hesitate to ask for the help of the librarians
and to get " The guide of the reader " published by numerous BUs.
The BUs : figures
The French university libraries (BUs) show a true delay with their
counterparts in the other developed countries. The budgetary scarcity
from which they suffer has practical consequences : lack of staff
and buildings, too many obsolete or unavailable works, long waiting
to borrow books or reading rooms inaccessible for the students due
to the lack of places. The ministerial standard foresees in theory
1,5 m per student. Actually, on the 18 Parisian BUs only four offer
more than 50 cm per student ! The French Bus have one seat for 18
students, against one for five on average in the other developed
countries.
In front of these problems, certain universities agree to deliver
a library card to the students of the other universities, after
the payment of tuition fees.
What a pity to consider the notion of public utility that way.
Other types of libraries can help you in your university work :
first, UFR's university libraries. It is the ideal solution when
theater there are some… : works and periodicals more specialized
in your subject and often of easier access. UFR's libraries are
mostly the place where the reports and the theses are kept ;
in certain universities, the 3rd cycle students have access to specialized
research libraries which are exclusively reserved for them ;
outside the campus, you can also use the network of the municipal
libraries in your area or near your university. Their capital may
be less adapted to high-level research, but is generally of excellent
quality. And the other advantage : you will find there a reading
room less overloaded than that of your BU to work peacefully. Most
cities also possess libraries and archives specialized in different
fields (history, theater, sciences, painting, techniques…), often
integrated into a museum: not always open to the public but generally
to the students, especially from the 2nd cycle. Ask the city hall
of your city of studies or your place of residence, to get you the
list of municipal and specialized libraries.
Except libraries, there is a big number of second hand bookshops
or specialized bookshops - almost always near the student districts
- where you will find, at the best price, references for your studies,
the recent or unavailable books in library. Some acquire even (even
buy back) your old books to resell them in their discount department
: the cycle is completed. You should also think of searching in
the shelves of secondhand goods dealers, on the book markets and
flea market : you can sometimes find real gems there.
As for the press, the good plan is the Ofup (the University Press
Office) that proposes the students and the teachers substantial
discounts (sometimes more than 50 % ) on the subscription in a vast
choice of magazines and newspapers. You can not miss the posters
of Ofup on the panels of your university, nor its salesmen (generally
students) who will assail you on the first days of the year. Listen
to them !
Culture at the university : The studies are often the period
of the most active life from the cultural standpoint and the leisure
activities. Afterwards, with your job and family, you will not have
as much time. Then take advantage of it now. Be attentive to the
opportunities which appear: read posters and placarded information
on the walls of your university, in the Crous, in CIJ and almost
everywhere in your city. The acquisition of a robust general knowledge
is unmistakably one asset not only for your " studies ", but also
for your future professional career. And it is above all a pleasure…
Culture and leisure are overspread at the
university
Most universities possess a more or less dynamic cultural service.
As a consequence, according to the universities, the choice in the
activities proposed can vary : audiovisual, thematic film club,
music, poetry, journeys, theater… The most active possess a box
office for shows at a reduced price, propose rooms of rehearsal
for the musicians or video library to take cassettes Various UFRs
(notably those of cinema, theater, audiovisual, literature…) also
propose leisure activities or participation in cultural projects….
go and cast an eye.
A nod
Appeal to the creative students : competitions of news, short films,
video are regularly organized by the cultural services of the university,
the UFR and the Crous. Have an attentive glance on the posters of
your university.
Cultural action of the Crous
We have seen the importance of the Crous's work in all the aspects
of the student life. Let us go now a little farther on their activities
in the field of the culture and leisure activities. At first an
eloquent figure : the Crous dedicates every year more than ten million
francs to support the student creation and increase the access of
the students to culture (a policy of preferential rates, encouragement
of amateurs practices and confrontation with professionals, available
premises).
The main orientations of the cultural action of the Crous are the
following ones :
The animation of the campus : inter-Crous tours of professional
or amateurs artists, student festivals (" Spring of the campuses
"…), social and humanitarian events (fight against AIDS, events
in favour of the handicaped students…), animations - contests with
sponsors on university catering, clubs in halls of residence (reading,
audiovisual, computer, photo…) based on the advice of organisations
helped by the Crous…
Access to culture : discount policy to promote the shows downtown
led by the Crous or thanks to box offices (that of the Crous-Paris
is particularly developed), or by the setting up of a " cultural
passport " or a " card culture " in partnership with national theaters,
institutions or local authorities (Strasbourg, Metz, Blois, Limoges,
Besançon, Tours).
Living laces : the Crous runs cultural places whose naming, objectives
and the sphere of activity vary according to the place and the profile
of the driving forces (cafés with live theatre, piano bars, art
galleries, studios of recording or rehearsal…).
The culture-action programme
Since 1989, this program has allowed the Crous
to subsidize cultural projects worked out by students and justifying
the other financing (institutional or particular, public or
private) :
in any artistic field, scientific and technical activity, even
humanitarian action ;
role of the Crous : advise the student in his research for technical
or financial partners, follow the working out of a project,
take care of the good image of the university works, analyze
the consequences ;
a regional committee in every Crous (made of representatives
of students, academics, journalists, professionals of the local
artistic and cultural structures) can grant scholarship to projects
defended by the students (alone or in group) thanks to the FAPE
(Fund of help to the student projects) of the Crous ;
at the national level : the projects of exceptional dimension,
even institutional initiative, can be presented to the national
Committee by the Crous and obtain grants thanks to the FAC credits
(Fund of help in favour of the campus life).
In every Crous, a delegate in the cultural action is at your
service for more information.
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Do not forget that your student card gives you a privileged status
in culture and leisure activities. There are more places than one
imagines which grant discounts with this " magic " card
: discounts for the cinema, the theater, the museums, the concerts,
promotions at the record dealers or in sports stores… Never
go out without it !
The card EduFrance Pass : it allows the students who have it to
benefit in France and abroad, from the most advantageous rates in
the cultural domain, for the leisure activities, the transports
and the flights, the train or the car. You can get obtain it by
consulting the site www.edufrance.fr or by writing in
or at the following address : 173, boulevard Saint-Germain, 75006
Paris.
Move your body ! You came in
France to obtain a diploma or deepen your knowledge in a particular
field. It is not a reason to neglect your body. As the expression
goes : a healthy spirit in a healthy body. Then, to oxygenate your
neurons, relax and forget the daily stress, we advise you to do
some hours of sports every week. It can be also the occasion to
meet new friends. Several formulae adapted to your needs and to
your budget exist.
Sports at university
As a rule, every university is endowed with a service which organizes
and supervises various sports activities : go to the DAPS or to
the SUAPS (Department or university Service of the physical and
sports activities) to consult the list of the proposed sports and
the schedules of the courses. To register in this service, you should
supply a medical certificate less than two months old.
Practical advice : a medical certificate to do sports will be required
for the practice of a sport in the university and the participation
in the university contests. You can obtain it free of charge, going
to the service of Preventive medicine of your university. You can
also see a doctor of the liberal sector but you will have to pay
for it. On the other hand we recommend you to take an insurance
contract covering the risks of sports practice. The SUAPS will propose
some to you within the framework of its activities. For the members
of sports associations, an insurance is automatically included in
the subscription.
You will have nothing to pay because with your administrative registration
at the university, one will have already been asked to pay for a
very moderate right to have access to the SUAPS. Let us remind those
who hate sports that the payment of this right is optional. For
sports requiring a specific equipment, it is generally necessary
to pay fora supplementary subscription.
Sports can bring you good points
If you enter a Deug or a Degree, you can, in
certain universities - they are quite few - obtain the validation
of your hours of sports in your academic programme. For more
information concerning the list of the Sports Credits, apply
to the registrar's office or the BDE (Office of the students)
of your university. This BDE can propose you all year round
to do sports (sailing, some days skiing, excursions etc.) and
at very reasonable prices.
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If you are a student keen on sports and with a good level, you
have the possibility to participate in academic, inter-regional
or national competitions, organized by the FNSU (National Union
of University Sports). You just have to subscribe to the sports
association of the university (affiliated to the local FNSU) for
about 25 euros. The sports association ensures the coaching and
the trips. The university competitions take generally place on Thursday
afternoon, then put it in your agenda !
The high-level sportsmen can in certain universities benefit from
an specific organization of their programme to reconcile sports
practice and studies. Inquire with the sports association or with
the registrar's office. Within the university, you will find a medical
sports centre in charge of the following-up of the students who
practise sports. Accident and emergency specialists work there.
National unions of university sports (FNSU)
To find the addresses of the regional Directions
of the FNSU (national unions of the university sport), apply
to the office of the FNSU : Centre Maine-Montparnasse, 11, rue
de l'Arrivée, 75015 Paris. Tel. : 01 42 18 15 50. Internet
: www.fnsa.com. E-mail : fnsa@club-internet.fr
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Sports downtown
If, within your university, there is no structure permitting sports
practice, you can
nevertheless go to the sports complex of your city or your district.
To register, you will supply there a medical certificate less than
two months old and pay a registration the amount of which is quite
low. The registrations are in June or September, inquire in the city
hall of your place of residence. If you are a swimming-addict (without
feeling like taking courses), the access to the municipal swimming
pools is very cheap. These swimming pools are open to the public in
the evening and the weekend and are very well maintained, the strong
smell of chlorine is the proof of it !
For those who want to remain sportsmen during the holidays, the UCPA
(national Union of the open air sports centres) proposes, for interesting
prices, stays organised around the practice of about forty sports,
in France and abroad.
Contact : UCPA. 62, rue de la
Glacière, 75013 Paris. Tel. : 01 45 87 45 87. Minitel : 3615
UCPA. Internet :
You have so no more excuse to remain stuffy at home. " Move,
go in for sports ! ". In many cases, it is the best therapy
against stress and gloom.
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