AGERA, the Alliance of the Grandes Écoles in Rhône-Alpes, is a regional association that brings together higher education establishments into a network. 37 Grandes Ecoles from the Rhône-Alpes region are members of this network, which caters for around 25 000 students, in other words, over 10 % of the region’s student population.
AGERA is one of France’s largest regional conferences of schools.
AGERA’s vocation is twofold:
“There is strength in numbers!” The truth of this proverb is
illustrated every day within AGERA, at a time when the economic context is increasingly international and competitive.
It is illustrated when the schools meet to exchange their experience or when all the Grandes Ecoles come together for debates and discussions and when the staff from the various establishments contribute actively to working groups.
The results are extremely positive: AGERA is recognised not only at a regional level, but also nationally, as an organisation that heightens the influence of the Grandes Ecoles in the Rhône-Alpes region.
The diversity of the training sectors is fully represented: Engineering training, Management, Architectural Studies, etc. are a great source of wealth given the need for exchanges of information from one school to another, and also for partnerships, is quite considerable.
It was at the end of the Seventies that several directors of Grandes Ecoles in Grenoble, Lyon and Saint-Étienne decided to meet periodically to set in place a body designed to contribute to the development and promotion of the Grandes Ecoles in the Rhône-Alpes region. They decided to set up joint actions and to serve as a single representative with the regional authorities, the educational offices, industrial and administrative bodies and also with colleagues in charge of universities.
The role of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Authority has been essential in the launch of this operation since it wished to have an organisation that specifically represented the Grandes Ecoles and was in a position to provide it with assistance in the implementation of the Authority’s ambitious development policy for higher education.
This body is called the Regional Conference of Directors of the Grandes Ecoles in the Rhône-Alpes region (CDGERA). The CDGERA is organised as an association under the 1901 law and registered its articles of association with the Prefecture on 30 November 1987.
Up until then, the CDGERA functioned in an informal manner and the work was coordinated by a small number of member establishments.
In March 1997, in order to develop its actions, federate more schools and assert its identity, the CDGERA hired a General Delegate.
The Presidents who have contributed actively to the development of the association are as follows:
To adapt to the changing needs of the Conference and to benefit from a more legible logo in France and abroad, the CDGERA changed its abbreviation on 2 May 2000 and became the Alliance of the Grandes Ecoles in the Rhône-Alpes Region – AGERA.
Today AGERA is a network comprising 37 member schools: 21 Engineering Schools, 6 Management Schools, 3 Schools of Architecture and 7 Specialised Teaching Schools.
Two persons are on the association’s payroll: one person as the “General Delegate” and another person as “Secretary”. The association organises numerous actions in partnership with its member schools and partners within the scope of projects which for the most part receive support from the Rhône-Alpes Regional Authority.
Several strategic objectives underpin these projects:
The Directors of the member establishments meet approximately every two months in order to take stock of the progress made in joint projects and to decide on the overall policy stance to adopt.
A General Meeting takes place every year in March to deal with any statutory issues: voting the budget, Chairman’s report, financial report, etc.
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