As part of the implementation of a renewed ethics and professional conduct system, the President of the University of Réunion, Jean-François Hoarau, appointed Professor Ferdinand Mélin-Soucramanien as President of the University's Ethics College on May 5, 2025. This is a first in the institution's history, marking a new step in anchoring a culture of accountability and transparency within the institution.

Originally from Réunion Island, Ferdinand Mélin-Soucramanien is a professor of public law at the University of Bordeaux. He was a member of the Jospin Commission on the Renewal and Ethics of Public Life (2012), an ethics officer for the National Assembly from 2014 to 2017, and currently sits on the RATP Ethics Committee. His appointment to Réunion Island, at the university where he himself studied, has a powerful professional, academic, and symbolic dimension. He will carry out this mission on a voluntary basis and in complete independence.

This approach is in line with the legislative texts of 2016 and 2017 requiring higher education establishments to structure an internal ethical framework.

An information meeting for staff was held on May 13th on the Moufia campus. It was opened by François Hermet, Vice President for Ethics and Professional Conduct, and moderated by Ferdinand Mélin-Soucramanien. Several announcements were made at the meeting:

● A new, more demanding and more precise Code of Ethics will be proposed for approval by the Board of Directors in the coming months;
● The ethics board, of which Mr. Mélin-Soucramanien will be president, will be fully constituted by September 2025.

President Jean-François Hoarau was keen to point out that this process will be carried out in close consultation with the competent control and authority bodies (Regional Chamber of Auditors, Court of Auditors, High Authority for Transparency in Public Life) and that it aims to make the University of Réunion an exemplary establishment in terms of public ethics.

"The university is a place of knowledge, but also a place of integrity and trust. By establishing a strong and independent ethics committee, we are choosing transparency, accountability, and exemplarity." Professor Jean-François Hoarau, President of the University of Réunion

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