Le développement de l'insertion professionnelle des étudiants universitaires : présentation et premières leçons évaluatives d'une expérience d'une organisation universitaire ambidextre

Since the law n° 2007-1199, passed on August 10th 2007, relating to Freedoms and Responsibilities of Universities (known as the LRU law), professional insertion has been officially added to the two fundamental missions of the University - research (production of knowledge) and teaching (transmission of knowledge). Professional insertion must be based on the creation, envisaged within each University, of an Office of Assistance to Professional Insertion (BAIP). In this new regulatory and inciting context, a new process of organisational and strategic adjustment was born and may be described in the following way: in addition to a strategy of exploitation which aims at efficiency in the fields of predilection of Universities (training and research), the Universities adapt by choosing additional strategic objectives (valorisation and professional insertion) while exploring (J. March, 1991) and while learning how to set up the means of carrying them out while being based on the experimentation of new activities, which obviously comprises risk-taking. We postulate here that by doing this, the Universities enter the category of ambidextrous organizations (see Tushman and O'Reilly (1996, 2004)) which want to 'play both sides' with the related risks (destabilization of the flowchart for example). Based on the theory of ambidextrous organizations, our communication proposes to detail and to test the implementation of the achievements of a innovative device of preparation for the professional insertion of University students (in the fields of science, technology and health) in a research based university. The evaluation of this experimentation was made using several tools: a longitudinal quantitative approach, still in progress (several online questionnaires proposed to the 1,500 students registered in Scientific Masters degrees) and a qualitative approach; more focused on the implementation of innovating achievements. The qualitative approach will have to show, as a first test, the first results of the interviews of its 'beneficiaries ': students and teachers.