CURSUS+: the Université de Lyon’s
undergraduate transformation project

On July 9, 2018, the CURSUS+ project was selected as laureate of the National Research Agency’s call for projects “New university programs”, as part of the Investments for the Future program (Programme d’investissements d’avenir – PIA). With a ten-year funding, the CURSUS+ project involves the universities Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lumière Lyon 2, Jean Moulin Lyon 3, Jean Monnet Saint-Étienne and the ENS de Lyon, all working towards a common goal: student successes.

CURSUS+ relies on a fundamental transformation of undergraduate university education, which mainly focuses on personalizing the curriculum and offering more diverse education programs. It is divided into three main areas for transformation:

• Personalize the curriculum by organizing the entire undergraduate Licence program into modules;
• Open up channels to facilitate the transition between general License programs and other types of undergraduate programs;
• Professionalize the License diploma to support its integration in the employment market and to respond to the growing need for middle managers.

Six new CURSUS+ courses will be launched at the start of the 2020 academic year. These will be added to the six that were already available in 2019. Here are a few of them:

• Polytech engineering school courses for STI2D graduates (Sciences and technologies for industry and sustainable development);
• The PCSI (Physics, Chemistry and Engineering Sciences) Portal “Oui-si” (admission on condition of taking additional support courses) Licence degree in four years;
• Law Faculty degrees split into modules;
• École de la Réussite (School of Achievement): first year of a two-year Law degrees;
• Licence degree in Computer Science, work-study training program with different qualification levels;
• Skills training descriptions added for the SVT (Earth Sciences and Life Sciences), PCSI, MI (Mathematics – Computer Science) and STAPS (Science and Technology of Sport and Exercise) portals;
• Support scheme provided in the English language.

€14.5M in grants


10-year funding


6 institutions involved


12 CURSUS+ training programs available in 2020

70,000 undergraduate students at the Université de Lyon including 20,000 freshmen each year

Asmaà Fritah-Lafont
CURSUS+ project coordinator,
Academic Strategy Department

asmaa.fritah-lafont@universite-lyon.fr

• Polytech Lyon: Preparatory course for the STI2D program

  
  

• The Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1: The PCSI portal’s “Oui-si” adapted course

  
  

• The Université Jean Monnet: Licence degree in computer science work-study training program

  
  

• The Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3: School of Achievement Law Faculty

  
  

• The Université Lumière Lyon 2: Law Faculty degrees, split into modules

  
  

• 2020

  16 APR
  The CURSUS+ lecture and round table discussions: New university admission support schemes

  As part of its CURSUS+ project, winner of the French National Research Agency’s call for “New university programs” projects, the Université de Lyon is organizing a three-year series of lectures called “Student Successes”. The first lecture, “New university admission support schemes”, will take place on Thursday 9 January, 2020, from 2 PM to 5 PM, at the French Institute of Education (Institut français de l’éducation - IFÉ) premises at the ENS de Lyon.

• 2019

  07 OCT 07 NOV
  2020 CURSUS+ call for projects

  The Université de Lyon has issued a call for 2020 CURSUS+ projects, as part of CURSUS+ winning the call for “New university programs” projects.

• 2019

  11 APR
  CURSUS + project launch

  The Université de Lyon officially launched its CURSUS + project in the presence of the National Research Agency on April 11.

• 2018

  09 JUL
  The Université de Lyon’s CURSUS + project wins the “New University Curriculum” call for projects

  On Monday, July 9, 2018, the “CURSUS +” project, spearheaded by the Université de Lyon, was announced as winner of the “New University Curriculum” call for projects, which was launched in 2017 by the French National Research Agency under the Investments for the Future Program (PIA) 3.

Coming up: “Student Success” events

September 2020: the launch of six new CURSUS+ programs

October 2019: launch date of the CURSUS+ 2020 call for projects
Find out more

September 2019: start of the first six CURSUS+ programs

April 2019: launch of the CURSUS+ project at the Université de Lyon

July 2018: The CURSUS+ project is the winner of the French National Research Agency’s “New university programs” call for projects.
Find out more (FR)

The CURSUS+ project, led by the Université de Lyon, receives State aid which is administered by the French National Research Agency (Agence nationale de la recherche) as part of the Future Investments Program under the reference ANR-18-NCUN-0005.