French universities organize Nextcloud day to connect communities

ESUP-Portail’s Thematic Day on Nextcloud Hub

This story starts in 2013 when the University of Lorraine began exploring on-premise solutions to store and share data, as many teachers and researchers were dissatisfied with the storage options offered by services like Google Drive and Dropbox (for security matters).

By the end of 2013, the digital department assigned one of their system administrators, Benjamin Seclier, with the project of installing such a tool on-premise. For software selection many French universities share the philosophy of the University of Lorraine where priority is given to open-source software. Only few open-source applications covered these functional needs at that time and ownCloud was chosen as the most suitable option at that time. The platform was implemented in 2014 and eventually replaced by Nextcloud Hub a few years later.

“Nextcloud has proven to be a successful solution for French universities, with its user-friendly interface and smooth integration with the current information system, particularly with SSO authentication.”

Benjamin Seclier, Linux systems administrator and computer science teacher

ESUP-Portail plays an interesting role when you look on the uptake of open source software within the field of higher education. This consortium brings together almost all French higher education institutions and supports the development and adoption of open-source solutions.

Its objectives are as follows:

• Promote local developments at the national level: Each French university is independent, particularly concerning its choice of applications to implement. However, we all face the same functional needs. ESUP is there to promote these applications through feedback, specific training, and more.

• Allow the connection of different universities for inter-institutional collaborative development of tools that meet their needs. For example, ESUP-Stage for internships management, ESUP-Pod for university’s YouTube, ESUP-SGC for multi-service card management, and more.

• Connect application service provider institutions with institutions using these services (in SaaS mode).

• Organize exchange moments between members of the French university community. Since 2006, ESUP organizes two annual conferences called “ESUP Days” that allow members to give feedback, recommend certain open-source solutions, advise against others, and more.

During ESUP-Days #34 in 2022, a roundtable discussion was held around the Nextcloud solution, which proved to be very successful. As a result, a thematic day dedicated to Nextcloud was added to the next ESUP-Days, which will take place on March 15, 2023, in Paris.

The event program will showcase speakers from the fields of education, business, and government, and will be sharing their use cases, problems, solutions, and account management strategies. While the event is focused on the French higher education community, it is also open to anyone working in education or government who is interested in Nextcloud Hub. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn, share, and network during this event.

The ESUP-Days thematic day on Nextcloud Hub promises to be an exciting event with insightful presentations and networking opportunities. This event is not limited to French universities, and is open to anyone interested in Nextcloud Hub from both the public and private sectors. Attendees will have the chance to learn, share and network with other professionals during the event. Registration is now open, and you can follow the link below this article to register.