PASS71: 30 medical students join the first intake at the PASS branch in Chalon-sur-Saône
On Tuesday 1 September 2026, 30 medical students from Université Bourgogne Europe joined the first intake at the PASS branch in Chalon-sur-Saône.
PASS 71: one year on, the commitment has become a reality.
To mark the occasion, Vincent Thomas, President of UBE, made a point of visiting the branch’s premises to welcome the first-year healthcare students in Saône-et–Loire. This friendly gathering was organised on the initiative of André Accary, President of the Saône-et-Loire Department, and Dominique Lotte, Vice-President responsible for health, citizenship and public services.
Students from Chalon-sur-Saône will follow the same curriculum as those in Dijon. The healthcare modules are delivered remotely and will be supplemented by local support. A tutoring and mentoring scheme, as well as face-to-face medical English classes, will be offered on site.
PASS (Specific Healthcare Access Programme) is open to students immediately after completing their A-levels. This first year of healthcare studies enables students, depending on their results and available places, to progress to one of five pathways in the second year: medicine, midwifery, dentistry, pharmacy and physiotherapy.
A close partnership
The opening of this branch campus in Chalon-sur-Saône is the result of a close partnership between the Saône-et-Loire Department and Université Bourgogne Europe, which enables students to complete their first year under the same conditions as students in Dijon.
This success is the result of exemplary collaboration between a local authority and the university. It demonstrates that by combining our respective areas of expertise — that of the academic world and that of local stakeholders — we can provide concrete and sustainable solutions to a major societal challenge.
Vincent Thomas, President of Université Bourgogne Europe
The premises of this Chalon branch have benefited from an investment of €715,000, 100 per cent of which was funded by the Saône-et-Loire Department. Located at 1 Avenue Georges-Pompidou in Chalon-sur-Saône, it covers an area of 450 m² near the SNCF railway station and the hospital. The site comprises numerous rooms equipped for videoconferencing, a library, a photocopying area, a relaxation area and an office designated for staff working on-site at the satellite campus.
