Tuition period increased from three to five years, admission of a growing proportion of non-French students, social diversity, opening of regional campuses: over the last few years, Sciences Po has implemented a number of radical reforms. In the space of 15 years, the number of employees has risen from 500 to almost 900 and Sciences Po has diversified geographically beyond its original Paris campus. It was therefore vital for us to adopt an institutional project.

The time was right, too: we had just signed a four-year contract with the State setting the amount of public funding for 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. This guarantee is crucial, given that public funding represents half of Sciences Po's resources.

The institutional project is an opportunity to help each member of our community focus on Sciences Po's strategy looking to 2013-2015, reflect on our values (production and transmission of knowledge) and consider the role that each one plays in this strategy.

Sciences Po has grown, but with 9,000 students it is still a selective university on a human scale, with the ability to remain flexible and avoid the pitfalls of bureaucracy.

The idea is to recall our strategic vision and, through discussions with each member of our community, formalise it in a document that will describe the priorities chosen and that will be applied in each of the different services.

Participation is the key word for this project. The role of the team led by François Cavalier and Stéphane Auzanneau is to listen to what people say and present what has been said, observed and proposed.