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about the Institute

Photo du bâtiment de l'IMPGT
impgt-a-propos.jpg

Key Figures

800

Students / year in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille

20

Training programs from Bachelor's to Doctorate level

30

Researchers

180

Professional Speakers

The Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance

Created in 1996, the Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance (IMPGT) is the only public management training and research unit in France. Within the law and political science sector of Aix-Marseille University, the IMPGT trains future managers in the service of the performance of public systems. Based on a multidisciplinary approach (law, economics, management), extended to the social sciences and applied to the non-market sector, the training offer, supported by dynamic research in public management, is open to students in initial and continuing education. It ranges from a Bachelor's degree in public administration, public management course, to various Master's degrees covering several fields of specialisation (Administrations & local authorities, Health & medico-social, Culture, Communication, Marketing and Territorial Attractiveness, Quality - risk management and development) as well as a research Master's degree that can lead to a PhD in management sciences.

The Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance

  • Its specificities

    A dynamic student life in a privileged environment

    The IMPGT is located in the heart of downtown Aix-en-Provence in premises listed and classified as "Historic Monument": the Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède (since 1982) and the Hôtel Boyer de Fonscolombe (since 1989) and in the heart of downtown Marseille on the Canebière where we share premises with the Faculty of Law and Political Science. Students benefit from a privileged study environment, close to all amenities. Moreover, with its 900 students per year, the IMPGT is a human-sized component, favouring a close relationship between students, teaching and administrative teams.

    Student life at the IMPGT is also punctuated by a Junior Enterprise (Junior Conseil IMPGT), two student associations: IMP'ACT Asso and the Arts Office, as well as sports teams, notably in football and basketball. Throughout the year, the IMPGT supports its students in their associative, cultural and sporting commitments.

    A connection to the professional world

    Since 2009, on average, 75% of the graduate students responding to our surveys are in employment 6 months after graduation from Master 2. This desire for professional integration is reflected in the completion of a compulsory internship from Licence 1 to Master 2.

    From Licence 3 onwards, students can alternate their academic year between their training and the professional world via internships, apprenticeship or professionalization contracts. In addition, thanks to the links forged with local, national and international public institutions, students benefit from being anchored in the professional world through the implementation of projects that are initiated, piloted and carried out.

    Innovative and ambitious research

    The IMPGT produces innovative scientific knowledge within CERGAM, resulting with 2 university chairs, European scientific research programs H2020, INTERREG, and a strong involvement in learned societies internationally. IMPGT researchers publish in a sustained manner in classified academic journals and organize / participate each year in symposia, workshops and forums in France and internationally.

    An opening towards the international

    IMPGT is today a reference in the field of public management in France and in Europe, both in the field of research, training, and at the level of exchanges and links established with universities, senior civil servants, experts, Ministries and experts from public institutions internationally. The IMPGT has developed strong relationships in the Mediterranean region, the Middle East as well as in major European cities.

  • A word from the Director

    Photo du contact
    christophe-alaux.jpg

    Present in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille, the IMPGT is a Training and Research Unit unique in France at the crossroads of public logic and managerial practices. Every year, our Institute welcomes nearly 900 students. Open to the non-profit sector, the public sector, and in particular local authorities, it also offers many perspectives towards the business world (nearly one out of every two Master 2 graduates enters the Institute each year). In addition, it seeks to develop student entrepreneurship around these general interest logics.

    The IMPGT has maintained for more than 20 years a university identity with 3 strong commitments:

    • Trainings oriented towards students thanks to pedagogical and administrative teams in a close relationship;
    • Teachers close to professional realities and field actors (teacher-researchers in action-research, numerous professional speakers, work-study and apprenticeship training: 65 apprenticeship contracts in 2019/2020);
    • Applied scientific research that enriches its training (European Research Programmes H2020, INTERREG, Chair on attractiveness and new territorial marketing founded by 30 French territories, action-research on the cultural, health and social sectors and on the public management of territories, organisation of symposia and workshops: RID/IAS, IRSPM, IMPGT/AGRH Forum, Women and Public Management Forum, Chair's Marketing Forum).

    We look forward to sharing our passion for public values with you!

    Christophe ALAUX, Director of the IMPGT

  • History

    In 1996,Mr Robert FOUCHET (manager), Jacques BOURDON (lawyer) and Jean-Rodolphe LOPEZ (economist) created the InstitutUniversitaire Professionnalisé (IUP), which initially delivered DEUG, Licence and Master's degrees in Public Management. In 1998,he received the authorization from the Ministry of National Education and Research for a DESS in Public Management. This opens with three streams: Cultural professions, Environmental professions, Health and social professions.



    Six years later, in 2004, the IUP became a Training and Research Unit in its own right: the Institute ofPublic Management and Territorial Governance, within the Paul Cézanne University (Aix-Marseille III). Before the merger and creation of Aix-Marseille University in 2012, the latter brought together the Faculty of Law and Political Science, the Faculty of Applied Economics, the Faculty of Science and Technology, the IAE and the IUT. In the same year, the first two professional masters degrees are authorised to open; with several courses: one in Public Management, the other in Quality.



    Since 2006, thanks to the University's four-year plans, the courses have been accredited successively, from the first year of the Bachelor's degree to the Doctorate, allowing IMPGT to have acoherent and recognized training offer today.



    In 2015, Christophe ALAUX, takes the direction of the Chair Attractivenessand New Territorial Marketing founded by Joël Gayet. This university Chair, the only one of its kind in France, has since been housed at the IMPGT.



    The IMPGT continues its evolution, always turned towards the professional world. While some training courses have opened up to work-study programmes through internships, in 2017,a partnership has been signed with the CFA EPURE Méditerranée so that students can benefit from open training courses under an apprenticeship contract within the IMPGT in order to strengthen their skills development and their professional integration.

  • Saporta space

    The Saporta site, where the IMPGT is located in Aix-en-Provence, is made up of two private mansions that are listed and classified as "Historic Monuments". 

    > THE BOYER DE FONSCOLOMBE TOWN HOUSE

    Located on the former rue de la Grande Horloge, at 21 rue Gaston de Saporta and just a stone's throw from the cathedral, the discreet and elegant façade of the Hôtel Boyer de Fonscolombe, the longest and most horizontal in Aix, unifies the architectural and decorative imbrications and juxtapositions created over time by the successive owners.

    At the origin of this hotel, two houses depending on the Archbishopric and the Chapter, which were bought at the beginning of the 16th century, one by a master baker, the other by a member of the de Rascas family. A century or so later, in 1635 and 1642, the councillor and later President of the Parliament, Charles Grimaldi-Régusse, bought them both and had them converted into a single residence. At the beginning of the 18th century, his heirs sold the house to the Forbin La Barben family, who sold it very quickly, in 1743, to the sister of Honoré Boyer de Fonscolombe, a rich merchant who inherited it in 1754, two years before his death. His eldest son, Léon-Baptiste-Laurent, one of the greatest French collectors, continued the modernisation of the hotel initiated by the Forbin La Barben family. In 1821, the hotel was inherited by the Saportas who, a century later, sold it to the de Vitrolles family. The latter hardly ever lived there and rented it to various individuals and services. In 1950, the hotel was bought by the State. It was assigned to the Ministry of National Education in 1955. In 1989, the hotel was classified as a historical monument in its entirety. The Art Institute of the University of Provence was housed on the first floor from 1965 to 1992, while the second floor was occupied by the Institute of Penal Sciences and Criminology of the Paul Cézanne University until 2001. Since 2004, the IMPGT has occupied the entire building.

    The architectural ensemble and the decorations date for the most part from the 18th century. The sculpted door surmounted by the Vitrolles coat of arms opens onto a covered passageway leading to the inner courtyard. The entrance to the hotel reveals two Doric columns recovered from the ancient forum, illuminated by a skylight and adorned with a wrought iron banister in the Louis XVI style, its dimensions are remarkable: it is the largest and most prestigious staircase of the hotels dating from this period. The two floors of the building contain numerous bas-reliefs, gypseries and stucco decorations that bear witness to the wealth of the place and the activities of the privileged witnesses who lived there. Particularly noteworthy on the first floor is the "Pinson-Ziegler" room and the French ceiling decorations. Rodolphe Ziegler painted the allegorical figures of the four cardinal virtues in the false compartments, as well as Perseus triumphing over Medusa and Athena overcoming vice. The other two paintings in the "Pinson-Ziegler" room illustrate the Judgement of Paris, painted by Nicolas Pinson with: first the Wedding of the Nymph Thetis and Pele in the airlock, then in the "Pinson Ziegler" room, Mercury charged with bringing the apple to Paris, and finally Paris chooses Venus. Finally, in the 18th century, the six stucco door tops illustrating The Story of Psyche in a delicate style were added, as well as the trompe l'oeil painting of Eros by Esprit Antoine Gibelin (1739-1813), a painter from Aix, friend of the Boyer de Fonscolombe family. The artist's signature has been cut out.

    > THE MAYNIER D'OPPÈDE TOWN HOUSE

    At 23 rue Gaston de Saporta, the Hôtel Maynier d'Oppède takes its name from an ancient family of magistrates. It is entered through a double wooden door carved in the style of the first half of the reign of Louis XV.

    Since 1490, the mansion has belonged to the old Provencal family of Maynier d'Oppède. From 1507 to 1671, this family gave four first Presidents (out of twenty-two), including Jean de Maynier. The building was bought in 1730 by the Thomassin de Saint Paul family, other parliamentarians, who rebuilt it almost entirely. The monument has been partially listed, partially classified and fully protected as a historical monument since 1982. Before 2004, when the IMPGT was established, it was an annex of the University of Aix, a Faculty of Letters from 1846 to 1950.

    The facade that can be seen today, with its harmonious proportions, dates from the years 1740-1760 and is in keeping with Provençal classicism. The windows all have mascarons: with human faces on the ground floor, and in "column relief" on the first and second floors. From the first floor upwards, four pilasters with refractions delimit the openings up to the third floor (where the servants lived in the 17th and 18th centuries). The capitals of these monumental pilasters are said to be "composite", as they do not reproduce the style of any particular ancient period. The carriage entrance is called "basket-handle" because the stone (from Bibémus) is carved in a softer curve than most of the other surrounding buildings. The woodwork of this door is, as in many Aix private mansions, remarkable: decorations of acanthus leaves and asymmetrical shells, typical of the Louis XV period.

  • UFR Council and IMPGT Statutes

    The UFR Council is responsible for the administration of the UFR. It is chaired by the Director of the UFR. The UFR Council defines the policy of the UFR and examines all matters relating to its operation: administration, budget, job profiles, pedagogical orientations, research...

    Its opinions are forwarded to the central councils of the university.