The Physics degree is a general course whose main objective is to strengthen students' fundamental knowledge in physics, in continuity with their secondary education. The objective of this training is to provide students with a generalist type education, solid in physics, enabling them to prepare for a Master's degree with a focus on physics, or even to enter an engineering school or to apply for recruitment competitions for the civil service requiring a Bachelor's level. This course provides students with a suitable learning environment for acquiring and using basic mathematical knowledge to formulate laws and quantify observations or measurements, to master the composition of matter, and computer programming to complement analytical modeling.

The main disciplinary fields concern the areas of electromagnetism, mechanics, optics, quantum physics, relativity, and thermodynamics. In addition to this basic foundation, courses are offered to raise students' awareness of the scientific questions that define modern physics and those dealing with the energy transition and environmental issues. The integration of researchers and teacher-researchers studying these topics within the teaching team provides a high-quality scientific environment for our students' training. This program offers a University Diploma in Physics specifically designed to prepare students for the CAPES (Certificate of Professional Aptitude for Secondary Education) competitive teaching examinations.

The energy, environment, engineering, and training sectors offer opportunities for our graduates who want to enter the professional world. The environment at the level of Reunion Island is favourable in these dynamic sectors and potentially job creators.

Educational goals :

The objective of the physics degree is to guarantee a solid training in physics, allowing for professional integration at the technician/assistant engineer level and further studies in a master's degree ensuring subsequent professional integration at the manager/engineer level. The aim of the training is for the student to possess the following skills:

• provisions for autonomy in work, time management, self-assessment.
• implementation of an experimental approach and execution of an associated scientific experiment,
• solving a scientific problem,
• theoretical formulation, modeling, algorithms and scientific programming,
• use of new technologies (including the use of artificial intelligence),
• information and documentary research,
• communication in English (oral and written).

In order to meet these objectives, the courses are designed to combine fundamental concepts with the learning of methodological and experimental tools. Emphasis is placed on experimental illustration through practical work and projects while associating the use of analogies to develop the ability to estimate, model and calculate.

Training opportunities:

The Physics degree offers a generalist education, encompassing the main fundamental and applied areas of physics. This degree not only allows for future professional integration, but also access to Master's programs in modern physics. Its purpose is therefore to support higher education (Master's, Doctorate) in France in particular, and to contribute upstream to building a pool of students for scientific research and research/development laboratories. This is the only course at the University of Reunion Island that allows students to obtain a bachelor's degree in comprehensive physics, in terms of knowledge and skills required for a physics degree, according to the criteria of the French Physical Society.

The Physics degree also aims to train competent students, capable of putting their skills and know-how at the service of Réunion, French and European societies resolutely focused on innovation, energy and climate challenges. This program offers students a high-quality environment by bringing together researchers and teacher-researchers working in nationally and internationally renowned laboratories on topics ranging from the study of energy transition to environmental issues. Our students will be able to understand and situate the role of the physicist in the challenges of energy and climate transition, but also to equip them with physical knowledge. This approach is part of a desire to develop the attractiveness of the training while ensuring the coherence of the link between training and research.

The alignment of the physics training with that offered within the Preparatory Classes for the Grandes Écoles (CPGE) of the academy of La Réunion makes it possible to consider welcoming students from preparatory classes in the second and third year of Bachelor's degree (L2 and L3).

Due to the specificity of its approaches, methods and tools, the applications of physics extend to all experimental sciences, environmental sciences and even economics. Openness to other disciplines and the broadening of scientific knowledge will be integral to the curriculum through introductory modules and the sharing of certain modules with other specializations. Today, innovation requires interdisciplinary skills that must be anticipated. This program aims to cultivate in its students this culture of multidisciplinary excellence.

The territory of Reunion constitutes an open-air laboratory for training and raising awareness among our students about the socio-economic and scientific issues related to the transition to other energy sources such as solar, geothermal or wind power. Furthermore, Réunion's location makes it an ideal site for studying atmospheric processes and meteorological systems such as tropical cyclones, as well as the transport of pollutants and their impact on the climate system. This training program aims to raise awareness and educate students on these energy and environmental issues in tropical regions. To this end, our students will have at their disposal a quality environment by associating researchers and teacher-researchers working on these subjects in nationally and internationally renowned laboratories (LACy and EnergyLab).

In this course, we strive to offer students a user-friendly space where they can access sources of information, appropriate them, assimilate them at their own pace, and use them as they see fit.

Total hours worked: 1356 hours

The Physics degree is structured around the three pillars below in order to meet the challenges of progressive specialization, such as:

• In the first year (L1): Integration for a better link between university and secondary education
• In the second year (L2): Orientation with the introduction of pathways
• In the third year (L3): Skills consolidation

The first semester (S1) corresponds to an integration phase for our students in the Bachelor's degree program. The purpose of the first semester's teaching is to ensure that our students are welcomed in their diversity, by establishing a common base of knowledge and skills (e.g., consolidation of acquired knowledge, acquisition of working methods, in particular) in continuity with their secondary education. The objective of S1 is to give our students the useful knowledge in mathematics (functions, complex numbers), physics (fundamental interactions, energy) and computer programming (introduction to Python) to follow the disciplinary pre-orientation phase which will take place in the second semester.

Starting in the second semester (S2), the first disciplinary courses begin, forming the foundation of basic knowledge. This foundation of basic knowledge is structured around four disciplinary fields:

Optics:

• Geometric optics
• Wave optics: Interference and diffraction

Electromagnetism:

• Electrostatic
• magnetostatics
• Maxwell's equations (in a vacuum and in matter)

Thermodynamics:

• Kinetic theory of gases
• Basic principles
• Thermal machines
• Radiative transfers

The mechanics:

• Stitch mechanics
• Solid Mechanics
• Fluid mechanics
• Continuum mechanics
• waves
• Introduction to quantum physics and relativity

The teaching units comprising this core set of basic knowledge represent a total of 192 hours in semester 2. This number of hours increases to 336 hours during the second and third years. This core curriculum also includes related disciplines such as mathematics (32 hours per semester) and programming in Python (16 hours in semesters 1 and 3).

The courses are designed to combine fundamental concepts with the learning of methodological and experimental tools. Emphasis is placed on experimental illustration through practical work and projects. To this end, a course unit exclusively dedicated to experimental activities is offered from the second semester onwards (32 hours of instruction).

During the second and third year, a choice of courses allows our students to give their physics training the desired direction. During the second semester, through a choice of course units, the student will be able to specify the disciplinary direction he/she wishes to give to his/her studies in the second and third year. The Physics degree offers two tracks, including the Environmental Physics track.

The physical exploration of the environment is part of the desire to implement an applied component of the knowledge acquired by students within the basic knowledge base. This course aims to give students the opportunity to explore, using the fundamental tools of physics, the functioning of the atmosphere, its radiative transfers and the exploitation of renewable sources. The aim of this program is to enable our students to understand and situate the role of the physicist in the challenges of energy and climate transition, and to equip them with physical knowledge. The courses offered within this program are structured around two main areas: astrophysics and atmospheric physics.

The astrophysics curriculum will be based on the study of several astrophysical systems and the principles of celestial mechanics. The atmospheric physics curriculum will cover the radiative processes (radiation, conduction, convection) that govern the Earth system's radiation budget. Dynamic aspects, such as the laws and principles governing atmospheric circulation, will also be addressed. Energy considerations related to the atmosphere will also be taught to understand how to harness renewable energies (solar, wind, geothermal) that are closely linked to the functioning of our environment. These different areas will be explored and analyzed with applications at the scale of Réunion and the region.

Students will benefit from a high-quality environment by associating researchers and teacher-researchers working in nationally and internationally renowned laboratories (LACy and EnergyLab) on topics ranging from the study of energy transition to environmental issues. The integration of these research infrastructures with the University of Reunion Island facilitates the implementation of educational activities (e.g., practical work, internships, visits) within them. Students will be able to easily connect the knowledge acquired with its application at the local and regional levels.

The implementation of this physical environmental pathway will allow our students to enrich higher education programs (Master's, Doctorate) in mainland France but also in Réunion. To this end, this program will contribute upstream to building a pool of students for research laboratories in Reunion Island and mainland France.

The skills acquired during this training are in line with those of the RNCP record

Graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Physics possess the following disciplinary and transversal skills:

• Analyze, model, and solve simple physics problems
• Knowing how to choose the appropriate theoretical or experimental tools to use
• To be able to validate a model or concept by comparing its predictions to experimental results and to assess their limits of validity
• Develop an argument and write a summary report
• Being able to reinvest acquired knowledge in a professional context

The practical skills acquired in the laboratory relate to conducting experiments, handling equipment, instrumentation, physical measurements, and data processing:

• To independently implement and carry out an experimental approach: design, measurement, analysis, interpretation of experimental data, and to consider their modeling
• Use of the most common instruments and measurement techniques in different fields of physics
• Knowing how to choose the appropriate equipment, identifying sources of error

A graduate with a bachelor's degree in physics possesses the following skills and related or associated disciplines:

• Manipulating the main mathematical tools useful in physics
• Solving a complex problem by successive approximations
• Manipulating fundamental mechanisms at the microscopic scale, modeling macroscopic phenomena, linking macroscopic phenomena to microscopic processes
• Use a programming language
• Autonomy in work, time management, self-assessment
• Communication in English, both written and spoken

The Bachelor of Physics program recommends that students immerse themselves in the professional or research world. To this end, we are planning a 4-week internship in a company or laboratory during the L3 year, in the sixth semester (S6).

Student support work, starting from semester 5 (S5) of the training, will be put in place to facilitate the search for companies or laboratories likely to host them for internships.

Registration fees are set annually by the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Space and are available on our institution's website: Register at the University of Reunion

For the first year of a physics degree (L1), it is recommended to have obtained a general baccalaureate and to have taken the following specialization(s) in high school:

• Mathematics
• Digital and computer science
• Physics and Chemistry
• Engineering Sciences
• Life and Earth Sciences (SVT)

Furthermore, by choosing the following optional subjects in your final year, you will benefit from an additional foundation of knowledge:

• Expert mathematics
• Complementary Mathematics

To be admitted to the second year of a Physics degree (L2), one of the following conditions must be met:

• To be a graduate of the second year of a Physics degree (L1) from the University of Reunion Island
• Obtaining validation of prior studies based on application for those who have completed a first year in higher education (e.g., another bachelor's degree, CPGE, DUT, BTS, etc.)
• Obtaining validation of prior learning, based on application.

To gain admission to the third year of the Physics degree (L3), one of the following conditions must be met:

• To be a graduate of the second year of a Physics degree (L2) from the University of Reunion Island
• Obtaining validation of prior studies based on application for those who have completed a first and second year in higher education (for example, another bachelor's degree, CPGE, DUT, BTS, etc.)
• Validation of prior learning, based on application

The general criteria for reviewing applications will be based on the evaluation areas below:

• Academic results: results in scientific subjects (grades obtained in Première, Terminale and in the baccalaureate).
• Ability to communicate in writing: writing a cover letter.
• Academic skills and methodological achievements: analysis of teachers' comments on the first and final year report cards.
• Motivation and knowledge of the training: coherence of the project (letter of motivation).

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Depending on the student's situation, applications to enter the first year of Bachelor's degree (L1) take place according to two specific procedures (the national platform Parcoursup, Études en France).

Admission to the second and third years (L2 and L3) takes place on the platform admission.univ-reunion.fr and on Studies in France for foreign students.

For more information, you can consult the university's student services page: https://www.univ-reunion.fr/choisir-sa-formation/inscriptions/etudiants-en-reinscription/

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

• The L1 Physics degree is open by right to holders of the baccalaureate (preferably from a general scientific series with a specialization in mathematics or in physics-chemistry) and the Diploma of Access to University Studies (DAEU).
• The L2 is automatically open to those who have completed the first year of physics.
• The L3 is automatically open to those who have completed the second year of physics.

Admission to the second or third year for students holding a BTS or coming from CPGE is opened by the validation of acquired skills procedure.

30 seats.

The admission dates for the first year of the Bachelor's degree (L1) are set nationally each year and are available on the Parcoursup platform

For admission to the second and third years of the Bachelor's degree (L2 and L3), the schedule is determined by the institution. It is available on the student services page of the university website: Students re-registering.

The highest success rates are achieved in the second and third years.

Over the period 2021-2025, the average success rate is:

• 41% in L1
• 65,2% in L2
• 76,7% in L3

A degree in physics allows students, through their choice of course units, to develop their personal and professional project for further studies leading to a Master's degree, which opens doors to various fields within physics and to teaching careers (often combined with chemistry for secondary education). Admission to engineering schools with a Bachelor's degree in physics is also possible, generally based on application review. In general, the energy, environment, and engineering sectors offer opportunities for our graduates seeking to enter the workforce.

As part of a partnership with Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, the University of Strasbourg, and the University of Mauritius, this program aims to guarantee, under certain conditions, automatic enrollment in specific Master's programs at the partner universities. The admission requirements for these Master's programs will be detailed in the agreements signed with the partners.

The sectors of activity and types of employment targeted by this training correspond to those listed in the RNCP record

Graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Physics can be employed in several sectors of activity such as energy, industry, materials, environment, construction at the technician level.

Our graduates manage to find employment 18 months after completing their studies with the following characteristics (statistics obtained based on the 2019 and 2020 graduating classes):

Nature of the job:

• Permanent contracts: 33%
• Fixed-term contract: 33%

Civil servant: 33%

Professional training/apprenticeship contract: 0%

Employment level:

• Engineers / managers / professionals / category A staff: 33%
• Intermediate level employment / category B staff: 33%

Employer type:

• Private company: 33%
• Public sector: 67%

Method of obtaining employment:

• Unsolicited applications: 67%
• Success rate in a civil service exam: 33%

Place of employment:

• 33% in Réunion

The employment opportunities available to graduates with a Bachelor's degree in Physics cover a relatively wide range. They can work, for example, in industrial companies, scientific research and development institutions, regulatory bodies, engineering firms, or public sector organizations.