Diplomat Luis Vassy appointed director, after months of governance crisis

After months of crisis, Sciences Po Paris is about to have a new director. The two governing bodies of the establishment have appointed the diplomat Luis Vassy, ​​44, as the future director of the prestigious school, after several months of governance crisis, we learned on Friday, September 20 from the institution.

The board of directors of the National Foundation for Political Sciences (FNSP), which oversees Sciences Po, chose Luis Vassy on Friday from the two remaining candidates, by 19 votes out of 25 electors. The day before, the board of the Institute, the internal governing body of the institution, had also voted in favour.

A graduate of the ENA (Senghor class, like Emmanuel Macron), the ENS Cachan and Sciences Po, Luis Vassy has headed the cabinet of the successive foreign ministers since 2022, Catherine Colonna and then Stéphane Séjourné, after having served notably as French ambassador to the Netherlands.

In his candidacy proposal, the 44-year-old Franco-Uruguayan estimated that “Ciencias Po must consider a triple renovation”. He believes that the establishment, with its tumultuous life for several years, must renew its image, its project and its governance and its financing, with Europe “in the heart”.

He advocated a review of the project of establishment capable of feeding a “internal appeasement” already “straighten your image in the media and public opinion, as well as among academic, institutional and financial partners”For him, the “ruptures of the present” – conflicts abroad, the environment, digital technology and the European question – should guide the teaching and research of this field. “university of contemporaneity”.

Possible “adaptation of procedures” Recruitment at Parcoursup

At the master’s level, Luis Vassy proposes the creation of“a school of governance and climate policies” and the development of links with “European Studies”. Associations must become more open to “Democratic Global South”embodied in particular by India, Latin America and Southeast Asia. Objective: to break with the image of “French Harvard” AND bring “another view and other practices than those of the West”In the undergraduate level, it recommends strengthening the common core and introducing a more solid methodological culture to face the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

The candidate mentions a possible “adaptation of procedures” Recruitment at Parcoursup, some “Exceptional profiles, whether academically or for their qualities of commitment, perseverance, intellectual curiosity, courage” He is not currently being watched, according to him.

On the financial side, he recommends the creation of an endowment fund and wishes to continue training the “senior management of private companies”TO “considerable market”.

Ending repeated governance crises

His appointment should put an end to repeated governance crises, the latest of which was the resignation in March of former director Mathias Vicherat, who was referred to the courts along with his partner in a case of domestic violence. Since then, Sciences Po has been run by the former director general of Pôle emploi Jean Bassères, who has been appointed interim administrator.

This crisis is not the first for Sciences Po, which has been plagued by setbacks and scandals surrounding its leaders for several years. Mathias Vicherat thus succeeded Frédéric Mion in November 2021, forced to resign for having concealed suspicions of incest against Olivier Duhamel, then president of the FNSP, which oversees the school. Frédéric Mion himself succeeded Richard Descoings, who died accidentally in 2012 in a New York hotel room.

Sciences Po has also been rocked for months by controversies linked to pro-Palestinian student protests. In March, the occupation of an amphitheatre by students, which gave rise to accusations of anti-Semitism, sparked controversy and prompted a visit by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, a former student of the elite school.