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Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

located in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by

Robert de Sorbon Robert de Sorbon (; 9 October 1201 – 15 August 1274) was a French theologian, the chaplain of Louis IX of France, and founder of the Sorbonne college in Paris. Biography Born into a poor family in Sorbon, in what is now the Ardennes ''dépa ...

as one of the first universities in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. Sorbonne University is considered one of the most prestigious universities in

and the world. It has a world-class reputation in academia and industry; as of 2021, its alumni and professors have won 33

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

s, six

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

s, and one

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in compu ...

. In the 2021 edition of the ''

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

'', Sorbonne University ranked 35th in the world, placing it as the 4th best university in

continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...

, 3rd in

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

Oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

. In the 2023 edition of ''

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

'', the Sorbonne ranked 60th in the world, placing it 8th in

, 14th in

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

and

, and 7th in Classics and Ancient History. Known for its selectivity, Sorbonne University is one of the most sought after universities by students and researchers from

, and the

French speaking countries French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

. Most notably,

Marie Curie Marie Salomea Skłodowska–Curie ( , , ; born Maria Salomea Skłodowska, ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first ...

, who came from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in 1891 and joined the faculty of sciences of the Sorbonne, was also the first woman to become a professor at the Sorbonne. Marie Curie and her husband

Pierre Curie Pierre Curie ( , ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. In 1903, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, Marie Curie, and Henri Becqu ...

are considered the founders of the modern-day Faculty of Science and Engineering of Sorbonne University.

History

College of Sorbonne

(1201–1274), chaplain to

King Louis IX Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the d ...

(Saint Louis), observed the difficulties experienced by poor "schoolchildren" in achieving the rank of doctor. In February 1257, he had a house (''domus'') officially established which he intended for a certain number of secular clergy who, living in common and without concern for their material existence, would be entirely occupied with study and teaching. This house was named the

college of Sorbonne The College of Sorbonne (french: Collège de Sorbonne) was a theological college of the University of Paris, founded in 1253 (confirmed in 1257) by Robert de Sorbon (1201–1274), after whom it was named. With the rest of the Paris colleges, ...

. The old slogan of the establishment, "''Sorbonne University, creators of futures since 1257''", refers to this date. The college of Sorbonne was closed along with all the other colleges of the former

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

in 1793. The college of Sorbonne is located on the site of the current

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

building, shared between Sorbonne University and Panthéon-Sorbonne University (Paris I) and

Sorbonne Nouvelle University The New Sorbonne University (french: Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle, also known as Paris III) is a public university in Paris, France. It is one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was completely overhauled and rest ...

(Paris III). The law of 28 April 1893 giving civil personality to the bodies formed by the union of several faculties of an academy and that of 10 July 1896 giving the name of university to the bodies of faculties, the new University of Paris was created in 1896 as a grouping of the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Letters, the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Protestant Theology (created in 1877, transformed into a free faculty in 1905) and the ''École supérieure de pharmacie''. It was inaugurated on 19 November 1896 by its president,

Félix Faure Félix François Faure (; 30 January 1841 – 16 February 1899) was the President of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Se ...

Splitting of the University of Paris

The Universities of

Paris-Sorbonne Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humaniti ...

and Pierre-et-Marie-Curie were created as a result of the university reform prepared by

Edgar Faure Edgar Jean Faure (; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a French politician, lawyer, essayist, historian and memoirist who served as Prime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956.University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, divided into five faculties, was split into several interdisciplinary universities. Some, including the

University of Paris-Sorbonne Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

, retained the name "

" and premises in the historic centre of the University of Paris, which had until then been mainly devoted to the Faculties of Arts and Sciences. The University of Paris-VI is created from the majority of the teaching and research units of the Faculty of Sciences of Paris (the others joining the universities of Paris-VII Denis Diderot (now

Université Paris Cité Paris Cité University (french: links=no, Université Paris Cité) is a public research university located in Paris, France. It was created by decree on 20 March 2019, resulting from the merger of Paris Descartes (Paris V) and Paris Diderot ...

Paris-Saclay University Paris-Saclay University (french: Université Paris-Saclay) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It is one of the 13 prestigious universities that emerged from the division of the University of Paris, also known as the Sorbonne. ...

in Orsay, Paris-XII and Paris-XIII in Villetaneuse) and part of the units of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris (the others joining the universities of Paris-V René Descartes (now

), Paris-VII Denis Diderot and Paris-XIII).

Reunification of the Universities of Paris IV and Paris VI

In 2010, some of the direct successors of the faculties of the University of Paris created the Sorbonne Universities Association. The following universities, members of the group, decided to merge into Sorbonne University in 2018: *

Paris-Sorbonne University Paris-Sorbonne University (also known as Paris IV; french: Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV) was a public research university in Paris, France, active from 1971 to 2017. It was the main inheritor of the Faculty of Humanities of the Universit ...

(Paris IV) (1971–2017), formerly a constituent part of the faculty of humanities of the University of Paris. *

Université Pierre et Marie Curie Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the La ...

(Paris VI) (1971–2017), formerly a constituent part of the faculty of sciences and of the school of medicine of the University of Paris. At the same time, the Sorbonne Universities Association was renamed the Sorbonne University Association; it includes the following institutions for academic cooperation: *

University of Technology of Compiègne The University of Technology of Compiègne (french: link=no, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, UTC) is a public research university located in Compiègne, France. The university has both the status of public university and grande école. ...

(1972– ) *

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe ( Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. In 2021, with 7 ...

* ''Centre international d’études pédagogiques'' (International Centre for Pedagogical Studies) * ''Pôle supérieur d’enseignement artistique Paris Boulogne-Billancourt'' * Four research institutes As part of the reforms of French Higher Education, on 19 March 2018, the international jury called by the French Government for the "''Initiative d'excellence''" (IDEX) confirmed the definite win of Sorbonne University. Consequently, Sorbonne University won an endowment of 900 Million euros with no limit of time. This is the first higher education institution in Paris region to win such an endowment. The university was established by a decree issued 21 April 2017, taking effect 1 January 2018.

Faculties

Sorbonne University has 3 faculties: Humanities (Lettres), Science and Engineering, and Medicine.

Humanities (Lettres)

Letters are the more ancient teachings of the humanity faculty.

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Languages Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

Musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

are part of this faculty.

Science and engineering

The Faculty of Science and Engineering of Sorbonne University is a major research institution in France. It can be considered the successor in direct line to the Faculty of Science of the

with the

Paris-Saclay Faculty of Sciences The Paris-Saclay Faculty of Sciences or Orsay Faculty of Sciences, in French : ''Faculté des sciences d'Orsay'', is the mathematics and physics school within Paris-Saclay University, founded in 1956. It offers undergraduate and graduate degrees ...

. It has more than 125 laboratories, most of them in association with the

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research o ...

(CNRS). Some of its most notable institutes and laboratories include the

Institut Henri Poincaré The Henri Poincaré Institute (or IHP for ''Institut Henri Poincaré'') is a mathematics research institute part of Sorbonne University, in association with the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). It is located in the 5th arrond ...

(Mathematics),

Institut d'astrophysique de Paris The Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris (translated: Paris Institute of Astrophysics) is a research institute in Paris, France. The Institute is part of the Sorbonne University and is associated with the CNRS Centre national de la recherche scientifiq ...

(Astrophysics),

LIP6 LIP6 may refer to: * DNAJC14, protein ''DnaJ homolog subfamily C member 14'' * Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 The LIP6, the computer science laboratory of Sorbonne University's Faculty of Science and Engineering is a joint research laborat ...

(Informatics / Computer Science), Institut des systèmes intelligents et de robotique (Robotics),

Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu – Paris Rive Gauche The Mathematics Institute of Jussieu–Paris Rive Gauche (''Institut de mathématiques de Jussieu–Paris Rive Gauche'', IMJ-PRG) is a French research institute in fundamental mathematics. It is a "mixed research unit", with three parent organiz ...

(foundations of Mathematics, shared with

) and the Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel (Quantum Physics, shared with

PSL University Paris Sciences et Lettres University (PSL University or simply PSL) is a public research university based in Paris, France. It was established in 2010 and formally created as a university in 2019. It is a collegiate university with 11 constituen ...

Medicine

The faculty of Medicine is located in two

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital (french: Hôpital universitaire la Pitié-Salpêtrière, ) is a teaching hospital in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Part of the and a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University. History The Salpêtriè ...

and

Hôpital Saint-Antoine Sorbonne University (french: Sorbonne Université; la Sorbonne: 'the Sorbonne') is a public research university located in Paris, France. The institution's legacy reaches back to 1257 when Sorbonne College was established by Robert de Sorbon ...

Law (external teachings)

There is no Law school as such in Sorbonne University. In 1971, most of the law professors from the Faculty of Law and Economics of the University of Paris decided to restructure it as a university, called Panthéon-Assas University (after the two main campuses of the Paris Law Faculty: ''place du Panthéon'' and ''rue d’Assas'' campuses). Panthéon-Assas now provides law teachings for Sorbonne University as an independent university.

Campuses

Image:Paris-Sorbonne.jpg, The Sorbonne File:Paris 75005 Grande Galerie de l'Evolution 20070804.jpg, Perspective view from the Jardin des Plantes Image:Amphithéâtre_Sorbone.JPG, The "Amphithéâtre Richelieu", a lecture hall of

Sorbonne

Sorbonne University's historical campus is in the historic central Sorbonne building, located at 47 rue des Écoles, in the historic Latin Quarter of Paris. The building is the undivided property of the 13 successor universities of the University of Paris, managed by the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris. Besides the monuments of the Cour d'honneur, the

Sorbonne Chapel The Chapel of Sainte Ursule de la Sorbonne, also known as the Sorbonne Chapel, is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic chapel located on the Sorbonne (building), Sorbonne historical site, in the Latin quarter of Paris. It was rebuilt in the 17th cen ...

and the Grand amphitéâtre, the building houses the Academy of Paris Rectorat, the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris, part of the universities

Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, Sorbonne University,

and the

École Nationale des Chartes The École Nationale des Chartes (, literally National School of Charters) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at ...

as well as the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

that are constituent schools of

. Before the 19th century, the Sorbonne occupied several buildings. The chapel was built in 1622 by the then-Provisor of the University of Paris,

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

, during the reign of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

. In 1881, politician

Jules Ferry Jules François Camille Ferry (; 5 April 183217 March 1893) was a French statesman and republican philosopher. He was one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans and served as Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1881 and 1883 to 1885. He ...

decided to convert the Sorbonne into one single building. Under the supervision of Pierre Greard, Chief Officer of the Education Authority of Paris, Henri-Paul Nénot constructed the current building from 1883 to 1901 that reflects a basic architectural uniformity. The integration of the chapel into the whole was also Nénot's work with the construction of a

cour d'honneur A ''cour d'honneur'' (; ; german: Ehrenhof) is the principal and formal approach and forecourt of a large building. It is usually defined by two secondary wings projecting forward from the main central block (''corps de logis''), sometimes wit ...

. The Sorbonne building is generally reserved for undergraduate students in their third year and graduate students in certain academic disciplines. Only students in Semitic studies, regardless of level, take all their classes at the Sorbonne campus. The Library of the Sorbonne is an inter-university library of the universities

, Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, Sorbonne University,

, under the administration of

. It is open exclusively to undergraduate students in their third year and graduate students. With the former archives of the now-defunct University of Paris, 2,500,000 books, 400,000 of them ancient, 2,500 historical manuscripts, 18,000 doctoral dissertation papers, 17,750 past and current French and international periodicals and 7,100 historical printing plates, the Library of the Sorbonne is the largest university library in Paris and was entirely refurbished in 2013.

Jussieu

The largest of Sorbonne University's campuses is

Jussieu Campus The Jussieu Campus (''Campus Universitaire de Jussieu'') is a higher education campus located in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the main campus of the Faculty of Science of Sorbonne University. Paris-VII University (now merged ...

, officially named "Pierre and Marie Curie campus". It houses the Faculty of Sciences. The first buildings are from 1957. The main part of the campus, the "Gril d'Albert," was built in 1964, and was completely refurbished from 1996 to 2016. It houses six university libraries, including an important research library in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

Maison de la Recherche

The Maison de la Recherche campus is the central building for doctoral studies that hosts the history and geography departments. It houses the Serpente Library that has 55,000 works and 292 past and current French and international periodicals. All doctoral dissertations since 1 January 1986 have been stored at the Serpente Library.

Clignancourt and Malesherbes

Two other campuses are the Clignancourt and Malesherbes centers. Undergraduate students in their first and second years of study in Philosophy, History,

, English and Spanish take their classes at the Clignancourt center. The Clignancourt Library contains 78,000 works, 210 French and international periodicals and 800 educational DVDs. Undergraduate students in their first and second years of study in

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

, French language,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

take their classes at the Malesherbes center. All undergraduate students in these academic disciplines study in the central Sorbonne building in their third year. Undergraduate and graduate students in

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

Slavic studies Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

, Italic studies and

Romanian studies Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

, regardless of level, take all of their classes at the Malesherbes center. The Malesherbes center also hosts three research centers in

Italian culture Italy is considered one of the birthplaces of Western civilization and a cultural superpower. Italian culture is the culture of the Italians, a Romance ethnic group, and is incredibly diverse spanning the entirety of the Italian peninsula ...

, the cultures and literature of central Europe and the Balkans and the Germanic, Nordic and Dutch centers. The Malesherbes Library contains 200,000 works specializing in the study of foreign languages and cultures and 1,200 past and current French and international periodicals. More than 50,000 doctoral dissertations are available for public viewing.

Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie

Undergraduate

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and

Archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

students take their classes at the Institut d'Art et d'Archéologie, located at the main entrance of the

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. Creation of the garden began in 1612 when Marie de' ...

. Constructed by architect Paul Bigot between 1925 and 1930, the Mesopotamian-style building was classified as a national historic building in 1996. It hosts the Michelet Library that contains 100,000 volumes of work on art history and archeology with 100 French and international periodicals. Only 10,000 of the art history and archeology works are open to students, the others requiring special authorization of usage. Graduate Art History and Archeology students take their courses at the Institut National de l'Histoire de l'Art in the Galerie Colbert, a partnered national institution of the university.

Other campuses in Paris

Both the Institut d'Urbanisme et d'Aménagement and the Institut d'Etudes hispaniques in the Latin Quarter host third year and graduate students of

and Iberian and Latin American studies. The Marcel Bataillon Library houses the Institut d'Etudes hispaniques' collection of 25,000 works on Iberian and Latin-American culture. Catalan studies take place at the Centre d'Etudes catalanes in the Marais. The Sorbonne university also includes Campus Pitié and Campus Saint-Antoine for the study of medicine ; Campus Les Cordeliers, Campus Curie and Campus Raspail for sciences studies.

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi

An exclusive international agreement between Sorbonne and the government of

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

was signed on 19 February 2006, starting plans to bring Sorbonne University to Abu Dhabi. Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD) was established on 30 May 2008 on Reem Island by a decree of the ruler of Abu Dhabi of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. All programs are taught in the French language except for the Bachelor of Physics and most of the masters programmes, that are taught in English . An intensive French language programme is offered for one or two year(s) to students who do not meet the French language requirement for registration. The establishment of the university demonstrates the keenness of Abu Dhabi to create an international hub in culture and education, having also signed a contract with the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in 2007 to create the

Louvre Abu Dhabi The Louvre Abu Dhabi ( ar, اللوفر أبوظبي; french: Louvre Abou Dabi) is an art museum located on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It runs under an agreement between the UAE and France, signed in March 2007, that a ...

, and with

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

in 2007 to create

New York University Abu Dhabi New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD, ar, جامعة نيويورك أبوظبي) is a degree granting, portal campus of New York University serving as a private, liberal arts college, located in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Together with ...

. SUAD is jointly governed by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and by SUAD's board of trustees, with six members, three of whom are appointed by the home Sorbonne University and the other three appointed by the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. The president of SUAD is the president of Sorbonne University in Paris, currently Prof Nathalie Drach-Temam. Academic programmes are offered at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the social sciences, humanities, law and sciences.

Academics

International partnerships

Sorbonne students can study abroad for a semester or a year at partner institutions such as

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

Rankings and reputation

Sorbonne University is consistently ranked in the top universities in Europe and the world. The first recognition of its existence as an integrated university came in 2018, when it appeared on the CWUR World University Rankings 2018–2019 in 29th place globally and 1st place in France. In the

2020, Sorbonne University is ranked in range 39 globally and 3rd in France. In the Times Higher Education European Teaching Rankings 2019, Sorbonne University was ranked in 3rd place in France (after Paris-Sud University and Claude Bernard University Lyon 1). In the

Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...

2019, Sorbonne University was ranked in range 51-60 globally and 2nd in France. The 2021

ranked Sorbonne University 83rd overall in the world and 3rd in France. Individual faculties at Sorbonne University also featured in the rankings. Before the merger of

and

Pierre and Marie Curie University Pierre and Marie Curie University (french: link=no, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, UPMC), also known as Paris 6, was a public university, public research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussi ...

, both had their own rankings in the world. Its founding predecessor Paris-Sorbonne University was ranked 222 in the world by the

2015. By faculty, it was ranked 9 in modern languages, 36 in arts and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

(1st in France), and 127 in

social sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

and management (5th in France). By academic reputation, it was ranked 80 (2nd in France), according to the QS World University Rankings, and 2nd in overall highest international reputation of all academic institutions in France, according to the ''

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

'' 2015. In 2014 Paris-Sorbonne ranked 227 in the world, according to the

, 115 for Social Sciences and Management, 33 for Arts and Humanities. Pierre and Marie Curie University was often ranked as the best university in France. In 2014 UPMC was

ranked A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...

35th in the world, 6th in Europe and 1st in France by the

. It was ranked 4th in the world in the field of mathematics by the same study. The 2013

ranked the university 112th overall in the world and 3rd in France. In 2013, according to

University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP) is a university ranking developed by the Informatics Institute of Middle East Technical University. Since 2010, it has been publishing annual national and global college and university ranking ...

is ranked first university in France, and 44th in the world. UPMC is a member of

Sorbonne University Association Sorbonne University Association ( French: ''Association Sorbonne Université'') is a group of 10 academic institutions associated with the Sorbonne University. After the fusion between Paris-Sorbonne University and Pierre and Marie Curie Univer ...

Organization

Members have worked on several projects in order to strengthen the relations between them and potentially create a new international institution. The most famous projects are the "Sorbonne College" (Collège de la Sorbonne) for bachelor's degrees and the "Sorbonne Doctoral College" (Collège doctoral de la Sorbonne) for graduate students.

The Sorbonne College

Since 2014, the Sorbonne College for bachelor's degrees (« Collège des Licences de la Sorbonne ») has been coordinating the academic projects of Sorbonne University with Panthéon-Assas University, the law school of the Sorbonne University Group which has not merged into the Sorbonne University and remained independent. It also offers cross-institutional academic courses in many fields, allowing students to graduate from both institutions. For example, some cross-institutional bachelor's degrees (« double licences ») are proposed to students in : *Science and History (Sorbonne) *Science and Musicology (Sorbonne) *Science and Philosophy (Sorbonne) *Science and Chinese (Sorbonne) *Science and German (Sorbonne) *Law and History (Panthéon-Assas / Sorbonne) *Law and Art History (Panthéon-Assas / Sorbonne) *Law and Science (Panthéon-Assas / Sorbonne) *History and Media (Sorbonne / Panthéon-Assas) As it is the case in the Anglo-American university system, Sorbonne University proposes a major-minor system, that is currently being deployed at the university. Sorbonne University, in partnership with INSEAD, also offers all of its alumni and PhD students a professionalizing course in business management to complete their curriculum.

The Doctoral College

Since 2010, every PhD student is being delivered an honorary diploma labeled Sorbonne University. This diploma highlights and gathers the skills of the doctors and researchers from the institutions that form Sorbonne University. The Sorbonne Doctoral College, created in 2013, coordinates the activities of the 26 doctoral schools. Since 2014, it has developed cross-disciplinary Ph.Ds between the different members of the

. Since 2011, Sorbonne University celebrates its graduates in a formal ceremony where every Ph.D. graduate wears a scholar uniform.

Research

To strengthen the influence of its research infrastructures at the international level, Sorbonne University has developed several research programs aiming at reinforcing or exploring new fields of study. This innovative cross-disciplinary approach was embodied with the creation of four new academic positions gathering several establishments of the group: *A Department of Digital Humanities, exploring the use of digital technologies in the social science *A Department of Polychromatic Studies of Societies, associating architecture, anthropology, chemical physics, literature and art history *A Department of Digital Health, exploring biomedical tools *A Department of 3D Craniofacial Reconstruction Sorbonne University has formed several partnerships enabling bilateral research programswith academic institutions such as the

China Scholarship Council The China Scholarship Council (, CSC) is the Chinese Ministry of Education's non-profit organization that provides support for international academic exchange with China and is the primary vehicle through which the Chinese government awards scholar ...

or the Brazilian foundation FAPERJ. Sorbonne University is a member of the

League of European Research Universities The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is a consortium of European research universities. History and overview The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is an association of research-intensive universities. Founded in 2002 ...

, which gathers 23 European universities such as

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Collections

Scientific collections

The Sorbonne University houses eight notable scientific collections that are open to researchers. Some collections are open to the public as noted. * Minerals – over 1500 minerals on display in 24 cases, open to the public * Physics experiments models – models built by professors from the Sorbonne and UPMC in order to demonstrate different principles of physics * Zoology – teaching collection of stuffed specimens, skeletal mounts, fluid parts, anatomical casts and insect boxes * Paleontology – research collection of fossil invertebrates * G. Lippmann collection – Research collection of 46 photographic plates created by

Gabriel Lippmann Jonas Ferdinand Gabriel Lippmann (16 August 1845 – 13 July 1921) was a Franco-Luxembourgish physicist and inventor, and Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference. ...

in his studies of photography and the physics of light * Charcot library – Research collection of the personal library of neurologist

Jean-Martin Charcot Jean-Martin Charcot (; 29 November 1825 – 16 August 1893) was a French neurology, neurologist and professor of anatomical pathology. He worked on hypnosis and hysteria, in particular with his hysteria patient Louise Augustine Gleizes. Charcot ...

* Paleobotany – Research collection of

Fossil plants Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeogr ...

Musée Dupuytren The Musée Dupuytren was a museum of wax anatomical items and specimens illustrating diseases and malformations. It was located at the Cordeliers Convent building, 15, rue de l'Ecole de Médecine, Les Cordeliers, Paris, France, and is part of the S ...

– moved from

Cordeliers The Society of the Friends of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (french: Société des Amis des droits de l'homme et du citoyen), mainly known as Cordeliers Club (french: Club des Cordeliers), was a populist political club during the French R ...

, will be open to the public occasionally, features wax anatomical items and preserved specimens illustrating diseases and malformations.

Recent Nobel, Fields and Turing laureates

Emmanuelle Charpentier Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, sh ...

– BA, Master and PhD - Nobel in Chemistry – 2020 *

Gérard Mourou Gérard Albert Mourou (; born 22 June 1944) is a French scientist and pioneer in the field of electrical engineering and lasers. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, along with Donna Strickland, for the invention of chirped pulse a ...

– PhD - Nobel in Physics – 2018 *

Serge Haroche Serge Haroche (born 11 September 1944) is a French-Moroccan physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics jointly with David J. Wineland for "ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual q ...

– PhD and Professor - Nobel in Physics – 2012 *

Claude Cohen-Tannoudji Claude Cohen-Tannoudji (; born 1 April 1933) is a French physicist. He shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics with Steven Chu and William Daniel Phillips for research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. Currently he is still an activ ...

– Professor - Nobel in Physics – 1997 *

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (; born 30 July 1947) is a French virologist and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division (french: Unité de Régulation des Infections Rétrovirales) and Professor at the in Paris, France. Born in Paris, France, Barré-Sinou ...

– Grad Attendee - Nobel in Physiology or Medicine – 2008 *

Cédric Villani Cédric Patrice Thierry Villani (; born 5 October 1973) is a French politician and mathematician working primarily on partial differential equations, Riemannian geometry and mathematical physics. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 2010, and he w ...

– Grad Attendee (DEA) and former director of the

- Fields Medal – 2010 *

Ngô Bảo Châu Ngô Bảo Châu (, born June 28, 1972) is a Vietnamese-French mathematician at the University of Chicago, best known for proving the fundamental lemma for automorphic forms (proposed by Robert Langlands and Diana Shelstad). He is the first Vie ...

- BA - Fields Medal - 2010 *

Wendelin Werner Wendelin Werner (born 23 September 1968) is a German-born French mathematician working on random processes such as self-avoiding random walks, Brownian motion, Schramm–Loewner evolution, and related theories in probability theory and mathematica ...

– PhD - Fields Medal – 2006 *

Pierre-Louis Lions Pierre-Louis Lions (; born 11 August 1956) is a French people, French mathematician. He is known for a number of contributions to the fields of partial differential equations and the calculus of variations. He was a recipient of the 1994 Fields Me ...

– PhD - Fields Medal – 1994 *

Alain Connes Alain Connes (; born 1 April 1947) is a French mathematician, and a theoretical physicist, known for his contributions to the study of operator algebras and noncommutative geometry. He is a professor at the , , Ohio State University and Vande ...

– PhD and Professor - Fields Medal – 1982 *

Yann LeCun Yann André LeCun ( , ; originally spelled Le Cun; born 8 July 1960) is a French computer scientist working primarily in the fields of machine learning, computer vision, mobile robotics and computational neuroscience. He is the Silver Professor ...

– PhD - Turing Award – 2018

Notable alumni

, Professor at the Sorbonne, first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice, and the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields. *

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ar, طه حسين; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a figurehead for the Nahda, Egyptian Renaissance and the modernism, modernist movem ...

, was one of the most influential 20th-century Middle-Eastern writers and intellectuals, he was nominated for a Nobel Prize in literature fourteen times. Minister of education in 1950. * Charlotte and Laura Tremble, French synchronized swimmers *

, Professor at

and Head of AI at

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

, "founding father of convolutional nets" *

Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = Toma, ...

, Malian women's rights activist, pro-democracy activist and participant in the endogenous development of Africa

Notes

References

THE - France’s most iconic university, the Sorbonne, is reborn

University World News, Merger of elite Paris universities gets the go-ahead

Le Figaro, Le retour de la grande université de Paris

Study International, Consolidation of two elite Paris universities confirmed for 2018

The Pie News, Mega university planned for Paris’s Left Bank