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Dear PSL community and friends,

When I agreed to become president of PSL (Paris Sciences & Lettres) at a critical period for the future of our institution, I was well aware of the challenge we would be facing in the coming months.

I know this project inside and out; I have spent years fighting for it, and I believe in it deeply. On behalf of all of us, I would first like to acknowledge the many accomplishments of Thierry Coulhon, who joined the Elysée in early June as an advisor on higher education, research, and innovation. In just two and a half years, Thierry and the various institution heads managed to form a cohesive whole, and the substantial majority of votes I received at the May 24 board meeting illustrates the level of trust that has grown between us; I am pleased to be able to rely on that environment for my own work. The road ahead of us is now clear, as is our joint goal of building PSL into an integrated university, and we have already successfully taken the first steps.

In fall 2017, PSL will need to submit a report to the international jury, with a second hearing scheduled for spring 2018. The next few months will therefore be crucial, and the Idex will clearly need to be the focus of our efforts if we wish to meet our commitments and demonstrate that we have become the integrated institution described in our 2016 road map. To achieve this, we will need to complete several projects that will require everyone’s participation: writing our new statutes, mapping out our masters and research programs, integrating our Labex laboratories and submitting EUR applications, formalizing a budgeting process with the institutions, and reinforcing our human resources policy for both faculty and staff. At the same time, we will of course begin the process of hiring a new president for ComUE (PSL) and the FCS. Until then, we will need the support of the entire PSL community to help our university to succeed, and in turn, you can count on my full commitment.

Marc Mézard