In Nîmes, a university diploma for town hall secretary “to improve skills”

The third class celebrated their graduation. L.T.

Faced with the shortage announced in the town halls of small towns, the University of Nîmes responded to the request of elected officials from Gard by creating training which allows town hall secretaries to develop new skills or refine them. Already three promotions have benefited from this course. The Minister of the Civil Service, Stanislas Guerini, observes this university diploma carefully.

"Out of 270 municipalities with less than 2 000 inhabitants in the department, 70 have told us of upcoming difficulties, including 36 soon" . Gard is not immune to the announced shortage of town hall clerks.

That day, however, Fabrice Verdier, president of the Gard Territorial Civil Service Management Center, displayed a broad smile. In front of him, coming from Saint-Brès, Mus, Saint-Maximin, Saint-Côme-et-Maruéjols, Pujaut or Tresques, fourteen agents – including thirteen women – are preparing to receive their diploma, delivered by the University of Nîmes, which rewards 90 hours of training "town hall secretary" whose objective is to enable an increase in skills. A dense program, particularly in matters of law, "indispensable in the face of increasingly complex regulatory and normative environments", added Fabrice Verdier . This new agility can allow these town hall secretaries to hope for an acceleration in their careers.

The third promotion had barely finished, the fourth took over. The University of Nîmes, with this university diploma which is easier to set up, "responds to the needs of the territory", commented on President Benoît Roig.

Towards a national diploma?

"This is a fantastic initiative that must be encouraged and pushed. I look very carefully at what is being done in Nîmes, but also in Niort and Poitiers where the same university diploma has been set up. There are also interesting initiatives in vocational high schools, comments the Minister of the Civil Service, Stanislas Guerini. By the end of 2024, the government will have to submit to Parliament a report evaluating higher education courses preparing for the profession of town hall secretary. This report will also assess the relevance of the creation, at the national level, of a sector allowing the obtaining of a national higher education diploma preparing for the profession of town hall secretary general.

In the meantime, the mayors who agreed to release their agent, every other Thursday for several months, could be reimbursed a hundredfold. "Nearly 15 hours were spent searching for funding. You will very quickly get a return on your investment, slipped them a trainer.

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