The Université de Toulon, a Defense University

On this occasion, Renaud Muselier recalled the regional commitment to higher education: "Since 2017, more than €350 million has been invested by the Région to modernize campuses, improve student life, and prepare for the jobs of tomorrow. For this project, the Région invested €3.5 million, alongside l'État, the Département, the Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée, and the Université de Toulon."

GREAT STUDENT REGION

At the regional level in 2025, the higher education and research budget amounts to €27 million. Indeed, within the framework of the CPER, signed in 2021, a sum of €100 million from l'État and €100 million from the Région was budgeted, of which 50% has already been used. Furthermore, since 2016, €14 million has been invested for the Université de Toulon. The president of the regional executive added: "In fact, the Sud is a great student region, rich with 4 universities, 22 student cities, 18 engineering schools, 7 business schools, 14 schools and institutes of art, architecture, and culture, 2 CHU, and the presence of most national research organizations (CNRS, CEA, INRAE, INRIA, INSERM, IFREMER, IRD, ONERA...). It has more than 23,000 researchers. I reject the idea of our universities being downgraded. Toulon is the proof of this! The Université de Toulon means 3 major campuses (La Garde, Toulon, Draguignan), 10,000 students, 15 research units, 2 doctoral schools, and 250 PhD students." Addressing Xavier Leroux, president of the Université, Renaud Muselier congratulated him for his commitment to the territory as well as the teams mobilized for this ambitious project: "Since 2021, you have taken on a challenge: to demolish, rebuild, connect, and protect, with only a two-month delay, to deliver this eco-responsible building that accommodates 300 students. You have grouped two departments here: Génie électrique et informatique and Génie industriel et maintenance. Bringing them together means strengthening the visibility and attractiveness of the university." A new environment that will allow students to work in a peaceful, modern setting, enabling them to develop in the best conditions. Because this reference campus is turned toward the challenges of the coming decades: defense and sovereignty, new technologies, within a global project. "The eco-campus of La Garde has only one watchword: academic excellence. This project is part of the approach initiated by the Région since 2019 with a 100% green budget intended to fund virtuous initiatives like yours," the president delighted.

DEFENSE UNIVERSITY

It is no coincidence that the Région chose the Var to make this investment. "On March 27, in Marseille, the Toulon university community participated in an Agora Défense where we brought together all the actors of this ecosystem around the table in an atmosphere of geopolitical tension. We made the same observation: The Université de Toulon must become a Defense University. It must contribute to the reindustrialization and rearmament of the country. We will support you along this path. Because the Var is the cradle of the defense and security industry with Toulon, the 1st military port in Europe and the 1st industrial site of the department, Thales, Airbus, Dassault, Naval Group on the territory, nearly 75,000 direct jobs (civilian and military), 24,000 people working every day at the naval base, 8 aeronautical and space test centers, and more than 3,000 researchers in 12 public laboratories," added François de Canson, in charge of defense issues at the Région. On the same theme, he added: "The Université de Toulon, with this IUT, is already training the talents of tomorrow: embedded systems and artificial intelligence, naval maintenance, energy conversion, drones and robotics, industrial computing, and systems improvement. Today, we are not only inaugurating a building, we are inaugurating a true 4,200 m2 campus dedicated to defense industries."