Strategic Plan

Since its creation, L’Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (Inalco) has developed and shared its unique expertise in the languages, cultures and societies of the world. Its history is rich and diverse, and its values are anchored in an assumed humanistic vision of a world in perpetual change.
 
Reach out to the world

Drawing on its lecturers’ and research professors’ specialisms in regions of the world, and in connection with the Sorbonne Paris Cité University (USPC) and other partners, the institute trains its students to the highest levels, to ensure their professional integration and improve their knowledge about cultural areas. Inalco aims to remain a place of research and expertise on today's nationally and internationally recognised languages, cultures and societies.

It was on this basis, enriched by the reflections of the Inalco 2030* group, that the themes of the Inalco project for 2014-2018 were built. This project makes it possible to formulate new objectives, reaffirm our identity and offer our university community the opportunity to mobilise around three strategic themes.

A refined training offer

Inalco's training offer is unparalleled anywhere else in France or the world: more than 100 languages and civilisations are available in licence, master and doctorate (LMD). This is regularly updated to reflect changes around the world, in particular with a thematic or training offer. We aim to respond to the diversity of our audiences’ expectations and the imperatives of professionalisation.

Students are at the heart of our training

The direction of the training will be reinforced to consolidate the upgrading of our offer. Collaborations with institutions at the Sorbonne Paris Cité University will be maintained in order to create new multidisciplinary courses or complementary modules. Our already simplified degree programme will evolve to meet the needs of a student audience that already holds a diplôme national (national diploma).

Attractive training for companies

We have the expertise to meet the specific demands of companies. A prospective system set up for continuous training makes it possible to develop short courses that can be immediately used in the field. This programme forms part of our partnership with the Sorbonne Paris Cité University (USPC) for the development of continuing education for executives. The creation of the Foundation will provide new funding opportunities which will allow us to support other training programmes.

Asserting digital pedagogy

Our pedagogy will benefit from reflecting on the didactics of languages, human and social sciences and the reinforced use of ICT (Moodle platform, distance learning, use of interactive digital tables), in connection with the  USPC SAPIENS project. The development of offering distance learning or face-to-face enrichment will also be a priority.

Our goal is to ensure the success of students, from their registration to their professional integration, by offering and supporting them through a blend of quality training and a rich associative and cultural life. This includes facilitating their integration with a warm welcome and providing them with effective communication and information tools.

The reception, orientation and induction of students

In addition to the deployment of the digital workspace, planned for 2015, a one-stop shop for the reception, orientation and induction of students will be created to provide them with everything they need for their studies This service will also provide information on the student advice centre, internships, jobs and the professional world in general.
 

Research excellence, at the crossroads between areas and disciplines

Area/ Disciplinary Crossing and Societal Issues

The strategic crossroads between area and discipline, at the origin of our research system, is capable of innovating and renewing the theoretical tools of each disciplinary field. Inalco will contribute to research on societal issues identified within the framework of USPC, especially on the cultural areas that constitute our core business. A doctoral PhD programme on cultural areas, set up within the USPC doctoral college and in which the Inalco’s Doctoral school participates, should be launched in 2016.

Supporting researcher projects

In addition to space left in the research themes, the Scientific Council has developed scientific management tools that will grow during the project’s five-year period. Inalco will support the lecturers in their applications to national and international tenders, to give their work the scale and visibility it deserves and also to increase the financial capacities of the teams. These will be reinforced by the recruitment of additional managers and secretarial staff. 

An affirmed strategic partnership

An essential part of Inalco's scientific strategy will be the internationalisation of its research and the evolution of its relations with the research organisations the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD): creation of a UMR CNRS on cultural areas, a UMR IRD in sciences with the Paris Diderot University and collaborations with the CNRS in the context of GIS cultural areas. The strengthening of links with Inalco's international relations will include the establishment of a joint international engineering project.

The Presses 

Launched in the spring of 2014, the Presses de l'Inalco is an ambitious project to promote and enhance the Institute's scientific, educational and translated work.

Steering tools for effective governance

Steering the modernised project

Through the themes of this project, Inalco commits itself to the quality of the training courses (initial and lifelong), tackles the outcomes of research excellence and the valorisation of its staff’s skills while affirming its dynamism.

The process of developing a master plan for information systems, planned for 2015, will be an opportunity to reflect on our administrative processes and suggest ways to improve them. We must eventually achieve the reliability of data in the various management applications. In terms of management, the development of a risk assessment, initiated in 2014, will result in the establishment of clear administrative procedures that will be made available to staff so that they can identify the way forward. This approach will make it possible to define our project and integrate the use of efficient information systems which will adjust to its evolution. The dematerialisation of certain actions through the provision of IT tools will facilitate internal communication and the transversality of modes of operation.

Finally, tools for evaluating the cost of research activities and training will have to be developed, notably by refining the monitoring of teaching services and complementary hours. In order to respond to these challenges, Inalco will need to assess the management of jobs, staff and skills, through a multi-year recruitment plan based on the institution's priority objectives, in order to have the skills necessary for the implementation of this contract.

Collective governance and a clearer organisation

The organisation and structure of Inalco will be modernised to clarify and streamline operations but also to generate management margins in a constrained budget context. This process is part of a quality approach and consultation. In terms of our internal organisation, reorganisation of the departments and sectors will allow for greater readability of the teaching structures and the creation of new spaces of collaboration. The rewriting of the internal regulations will integrate the past and future evolutions of our organisation and our governance.

​*Inalco 2030

In the context of Inalco’s institutional project and in order to contribute to the development of its long-term vision, the President initiated the creation of a working group entitled Inalco 2030. After a call for applications from all staff (teachers and administrators), a group of around 20 people met during 3 workshops in order to reflect on the future of Inalco and its position in the higher education and research landscape. Their ideas will fuel the development of Inalco’s long-term trajectory, and form the basis of Inalco’s direction over the next 5 years.