Integration of " Environnements Numériques de Travail " in French universities : constraint or deliberate choice ?

International audienceFrench universities integrate " Environnements Numériques de Travail " since 2000. These environments provide the various actors of the university with an access to online resources, collaborative tools and distance learning tools. The importance of the implication of the various actors in the success of the integration project is no longer to be proved. The objective of this article is to study the various constraints weighting on French universities and leading them to adopt "Environnements Numériques de Travail". We identify three main categories of constraints: demographic constraints, technological constraints and economic constraints. Beyond these contextual constraints, public policies weight heavily on the universities' leeway. French universities are subject to both French and European public policies. The study of theses constraints leads us to question us on the deliberated nature of the integration of theses tools in French universities. Many countries are facing the same constraints making our conclusions easily transposable in other national contexts