L'AVUF / Who are we?

The Association des Villes Universitaires de France (AVUF) brings together more than a hundred local authorities (municipalities, conurbations, metropolises) that are involved in supporting research and higher education in their area, and are seeking to improve the effectiveness of this support.

L'AVUF is a resource centre, a source of ideas and a dynamic interface with its members, with 3 main objectives:

Helping the elected representatives and staff of member local authorities to understand university subjects so that they can use them to the benefit of their area, in particular through seminars and conferences.
Formulate proposals to the government and other national players to bring about positive change in the national and regional organisation of higher education and research.
Develop joint services or events with all or some of its members.

It is with this objective in mind that it supports local authorities in their efforts to develop, improve or regulate student accommodation in their area. Although they are not directly involved in student accommodation, they do play a role in stimulating, facilitating and regulating it:

Together with the FNAU, the AVUF has also developed a system for local observation of student housing, with the development of a methodology, the co-publication of guides and the creation of a network of local student housing observatories (OTLE). Organised on a partnership basis by local authorities, universities or university groupings, the Crous, urban planning agencies or ADILs, these OTLEs are intended to provide tools to assist public decision-making on the planning of residences and/or the urban integration of students.

Its role in the Student Habitat label

The "Label Habitat Etudiant" is the property of AVUF, which is responsible for disseminating and communicating the label to its member local authorities. The association ensures that the scheme is properly understood and adopted. It is involved upstream of the labelling process to support and guide players towards the labelling process.

The AVUF is in no way involved in carrying out the audit, awarding the grade or reviewing it. It relies on an independent Labelling Body, to which it entrusts the management and steering of the applications and audits.

The pilot local authorities

The Habitat Étudiant label was developed by a working group led by Maxime Boyer, the AVUF's deputy vice-president in charge of student housing, and made up of the following local authorities:

Métropole de Dijon

Communauté Urbaine de Reims

Ville de Sceaux

Ville de Toulouse

Toulouse Metropolitan Area

Troyes Champagne Métropole Conurbation Community

The aim of these local authorities is to initiate the labelling scheme in their area, before it is adopted by other local authorities. Other local authorities can join the pilot group at any time.

Partners Committee

When the specifications for the label were being drawn up, a number of organisations representing different stakeholders in the sector were consulted by AVUF du in order to obtain their opinion on the requirements of the scheme. These organisations are as follows:

Union Sociale pour l'Habitat

Fédération des Promoteurs Immobiliers

Cnous

FAGE

ESN

Campus France

France Universités

Conférence des Grandes Écoles

They make up the label's partners committee, and can be called upon throughout the life of the label to develop it further.

The committee may be enlarged to include other organisations at the request of the AVUF.