The B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity is the first public and free online course enabling all French citizens to acquire fundamental knowledge about climate and biodiversity issues. A collaboration between internationally recognized scientific experts and digital pedagogy specialists, the B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity is now open to public and private organizations interested in training their employees on the causes and consequences of climate change.
Innovative Use of B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity
The University of Poitiers becomes the first university to offer the B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity to its entire community—students, teachers, and staff—via its own online training platform. Each participant can undergo training on these issues and obtain a badge attesting to this effort. This milestone is a significant step for both Cned and the University of Poitiers, partners in the Aliénor d’Aquitaine Alliance. For the University of Poitiers, it serves as a foundation to develop a comprehensive program for raising awareness and providing training to its students and staff.
Furthermore, the University of Poitiers and Cned will have data allowing them to track the progress and paths of students who have completed this training. The analysis of this data can contribute to a pedagogical reflection on the best way to raise awareness among all regarding climate and biodiversity issues.
Partnership Serving the Consideration of Ecological Issues in French Universities
This announcement aligns with the roadmap presented in the fall of 2022 by the Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, aiming to train all students and personnel in higher education on ecological transition by the year 2025.
After the public launch of B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity on June 7, 2023, at Radio-France during a joint press conference with the President-Director General of Radio-France, Sibyle Veil, the deployment of B.A.-BA Climate and Biodiversity is accelerating.
Since June 7, the platform has attracted over 140,000 visitors and generated 24,000 badges. Cned is advancing to a new stage of deployment with its B.A.BA Pro offering to support ecological transition training within local authorities, higher education institutions, businesses, and any interested organizations.
The deployment of the B.A.-BA Pro offering began on November 9 with the announced partnership between Cned and the ScPo Network, which includes Sciences Po institutions in Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Lyon, Rennes, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Strasbourg, and Toulouse. It continues today with the strategic partnership between the University of Poitiers and Cned.
This is how Cned aims to respond to a growing need expressed by French society. An exclusive study conducted in June 2023 by Obea for Cned revealed that 6 out of 10 French people believed that the level of ecological awareness was not up to the challenges, and 83% declared that it was difficult to know which actor to trust for reliable information on ecological issues. To address this need, Cned will in the coming months expand partnerships with both public and private organizations.
This partnership between two institutions in Poitiers aims to be structuring for our region. I thank Virginie Laval, President of the University of Poitiers, for the trust placed in Cned. Together, we want to shake things up so that as many universities as possible mobilize for training in ecological transition.
Jean-Noël Tronc, CEO of Cned
I welcome the close partnership between the University of Poitiers and Cned. This new joint initiative for sustainable development awareness is consistent with the priorities of our common Alliance. The University of Poitiers is the first to open up the Cned’s B.A.-BA Climate to its entire community. This is a first step that the University of Poitiers will extend with other initiatives.
Virginie Laval, President of the University of Poitiers
Source: Cned, press release of November 21, 2023
