Engaging in an association, a community, or a civic project allows one to acquire sought-after skills, but these are rarely recognized in a university curriculum. To encourage and value these paths, Aix-Marseille University has created the first French university diploma dedicated to engagement. Accessible to both students and volunteers, it combines theoretical training and field experience to transform civic action into a truly recognized skill.
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At Aix-Marseille University, engagement is a degree-awarding training
22-med – June 2026
• Aix-Marseille University launches the first French university diploma dedicated to student engagement, combining theoretical training and field experience.
• Accessible to both students and volunteers, this program aims to recognize and value the skills acquired in associative, civic, or solidarity action.
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In 2022, according to a study by France Bénévolat, 16% of students were involved in an association, mainly in the sectors of sports, culture, social, and environment. A figure that the State is trying to increase. Because getting involved in an association or foundation allows one to gain maturity on major societal issues, experience a first professional environment, or develop soft skills such as empathy, tolerance, a sense of responsibility, or the ability to work in a team. These young people also represent an important pool of volunteers, in a country that lost 2 million between 2018 and 2022.
Since the Equality and Citizenship Law of January 27, 2017, and even more so since ministerial guidelines in 2022, student volunteer engagement can notably lead to adjustments in the university curriculum or allow for bonus points. These are avenues explored by Aix-Marseille University, which implemented a bonus in the fall of 2025 for those actively participating in territorial life, within the Marseille Student Life Council, the Marseille Youth Council, Aix Student Council, and the Metropolitan Youth Council. And above all, it created a DU (university diploma) “Engagement,” a recognized university diploma, the first of its kind in France. It was designed as part of the IDeAL project (Integration and Development at Aix-Marseille through Learning), a winner of the France 2030 investment program.
The first “Engagement” DU in France
It is based on 120 hours of theoretical courses covering the issues and promotion of action, the design and management of CSR projects. Combined with 120 hours “in the field” as a volunteer in an association, reservist, student representative, or in civic service. A content that required three years of work.
“Ten teachers and educational engineers spent two years on the experimental phase alone, particularly to prepare the videos, podcasts, and proposed activities,” recounts Isabelle Bruniau di Monté, project manager of the “Student Engagement Program,” part of the Student Life and Campus Directorate, which includes this DU, at amU. “Then they relied on student testers, elected or engaged in student associations, with whom they organized pedagogical follow-up meetings to improve the platform, especially its ergonomics.”
“The initial idea was to encourage, support, and value student engagement. This in an extremely complex context since our university has more than 82,000 students across 17 components, among which are programs very focused on sustainable development, for example, and others that are very distant from it…” she continues. Hence the choice of a distance and asynchronous training (which everyone can follow whenever they wish), evaluated through quizzes, role-playing, and case studies, and validated by completing the field mission.
240 hours to move from action to method
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