Paris Universitas was an alliance of six institutions of higher education in Paris, France, that existed from 2005 to 2010. Paris Universitas offered a wide range of disciplines, from medicine to the humanities, engineering, law, management and the social sciences. The institution expected to rank between 1 and 3 in Europe for number of publications, although rankings were not released due to the short lifespan of the institution. In 2006, Paris Universitas was ranked first among European universities and 4th in the world for the largest volume of English-language publications.http://193.170.242.194/imperia/md/content/weiterbildungsforschung/veranstaltungen/drc/bereziat_presentation.pdf Paris Universitas had 350 research laboratories, a broad range of disciplines, and almost 80,000 students.

Organisation

Paris Universitas was a

collegiate university A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...

, with its main functions divided between the central departments of the university and the higher education institutions that are members. They are technically institutions independent of the university itself and enjoy considerable autonomy. Unlike the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

, Paris Universitas did not have the power to award degrees.

Institutions

Paris Universitas comprised eight institutions: *

École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

* Pantheon-Assas University * Université Sorbonne nouvelle *

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 ...

(since April 2008) *

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 research university in Paris, France, from 1971 to 2017. The university was located on the Jussieu Campus in the La ...

* Paris-Dauphine University *

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 ...

(since April 2008) More institutions were expected to join Paris Universitas: *

Supélec École supérieure d'électricité, commonly known as Supélec (), was a French graduate school of engineering. It was one of the most prestigious grande écoles in France in the field of electrical engineering, energy and information sciences. ...

École Supérieure d'Électricité *

ESPCI ESPCI Paris (officially the École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la Ville de Paris; ''The City of Paris Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution'') is a prestigious grande école founded in 1882 by ...

École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris *

ENSCP Chimie ParisTech (officially École nationale supérieure de chimie de Paris (''National Chemical Engineering Institute in Paris''), also known as ENSCP or Chimie Paris), founded in 1896 within the University of Paris, is an Engineering education ...

École nationale supérieure de chimie de Paris *

Centrale Paris Centrale may refer to: Places * Centrale (Milan Metro), a rail station in Milan, Italy * Centrale (shopping centre) in Croydon, South London ** Centrale tram stop, named after the shopping centre above * Centrale Region, Togo * 138 East 50th Stree ...

École centrale Paris *

INALCO Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales ( en, National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations), abbreviated as INALCO, is a French university specializing in the teaching of languages and cultures from the world. ...

Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales If this process had reached to an end, Paris Universitas would have been one of the five French universities with around 100,000 students with Paris Centre Universités, the

Université Lille Nord de France The Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France (formerly Université Lille Nord de France) was a French Groups of Universities and Institutions ( COMUE) spread over multiple campuses and centered in Lille (North - Hauts ...

, the Université de Lyon, the

University of Toulouse The University of Toulouse (french: Université de Toulouse) was a university in the French city of Toulouse that was established by papal bull in 1229, making it one of the earliest universities to emerge in Europe. Suppressed during the Frenc ...

, and among the largest universities in Europe.

Research and teaching

Paris Universitas had research departments and teaching faculties in most academic disciplines.

Research

The constituent institutions of Paris Universitas conducted research in many areas within the basic sciences, humanities, economics, social sciences, and law. There were 182 CNRS/APU and 58 INSERN/APU member research units. There were also 40 common laboratories.

Programs

The Paris Universitas had a number of joint degrees at the baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral levels that involve participation and dual institutions within the alliance. There were also 17 international programs as follows: Masters *Brain and Mind (UPMC/ENS/UC London) *French & Italian law (Panthéon-Assas/

La Sapienza The Sapienza University of Rome ( it, Sapienza – Università di Roma), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Ita ...

) *French & German law (Panthéon-Assas/U Berlin/U Munich) *European jurist & lawyer (Panthéon-Assas/

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 ...

/U Berlin) *Computing science (UPMC/université de Montréal) *French & Suisse law (Panthéon-Assas/ Fribourg) *American law (Panthéon-Assas/Columbia U) *English law (Panthéon-Assas/ Oxford or University College, London) *Executive MBA (Dauphine/UQAM

*Management of projects & NTIC (Dauphine/

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is also the ...

) *Marine biology (UPMC/PUChili/U Barcelona) *Electronics (UPMC/U Valencia/U Brescia) *Nanosciences (UPMC/U Uppsala) *Developmental biology (UPMC/U Lisbonne/ U Pompeu Fabra) *Financing & control (Dauphine/U

Sankt Peterburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

) Bachelors *French & English law (

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 ...

/Panthéon-Assas) *French & Common law (Panthéon-Assas/

University College, Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

) *French & Spain law (Panthéon-Assas/Universidad Complutense de Madrid) Proposed *Master of Health Sciences (EHESS/UPMC/Dauphine/Panthéon Assas) *Master of Sciences & decision (UPMC/EHESS)

Statistics

As September 2007 *70 000 students *Bachelor studies : 25 000 *Masters studies : 20 000 *PhD studies : 8 000 *Medical studies : 5 000 *« Engineering Schools » : 4 500 *Other studies : 7 500 *Academic staff : 5 500 *Administrative and technical staff : 3 700 *Budget with salaries : 1 500 M € *Research : *Joint CNRS/APU’s member research units : 182 *Joint INSERM/APU’s member research units : 58 *Common labs inside Paris Universitas : 40 *10 years citations : 569 644 ( 3rd in Europe)

Reputation

* Université Paris Dauphine, the famous university of management in France. * École Normale Supérieure ranked 18th in the world, and 5th in Europ

in the 2006 ''

THES - 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 ...

'', * Université Paris-Sorbonne ranked 1st in France and 29th in the world for Arts & Humanities in

The Times Higher Education Supplement ''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 ...

(THES) - QS World University Rankings 2007. * Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie ranked 39th in the World and 1st in France for the Sciences & Mathematics by 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 ...

. * Panthéon-Assas University ranks first in France in most legal subjects. Panthéon-Assas University

Campus abroad

The ENS group opened a branch at the

East China Normal University East China Normal University (ECNU) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Shanghai, China. It was formed in 1951 by the merger of the Great China University (est. 1924) and Kwang Hua University (est. 1925) and origin ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The Paris-Sorbonne university and 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 ...

signed a cooperation agreement for the creation of the new

Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is a French and English-speaking university established on 7 October 2006 in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The university affiliated with the French Sorbonne University (former Paris-Sorbo ...

History

The historic University of Paris (french: Université de Paris), second oldest university in continuous operation, appeared in the second half of the 12th century and grew up around the

Notre Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

. The medieval Latin term ''universitas'' actually had the more general meaning of a guild, and the university of Paris was known as a ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'' (a guild of masters and scholars). The university had four Faculties:

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both hi ...

Medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, and

Theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. The ancient university disappeared with ancient France under the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. All the French universities were replaced by a single centre, the

University of France The University of France (french: Université de France; originally the ''Imperial University of France'') was a highly centralized educational state organization founded by Napoleon I in 1808 and given authority not only over the individual (previ ...

. After a century (in 1896), people recognized that the new system was less favourable to study and restored the old system, but without the faculty of theology. Following the cultural revolution commonly known as "the

French May Beginning in May 1968, a period of civil unrest occurred throughout France, lasting some seven weeks and punctuated by demonstrations, general strikes, as well as the occupation of universities and factories. At the height of events, which ha ...

", resulting in the closing of the university for only the third time in history, the university was in 1970 reorganised as 13 autonomous universities. Most of these universities have joined, or are in the process of forming (March 2008), new groupings along the lines of a

. Typically, these groupings take the legal form of a Center for Research and Higher Education (''Pôle de Recherche et d'Enseignement Supérieur'', or PRES), though some have opted for other forms of organization. Paris Universitas was one of the two new large university centers in the city of Paris, along with Paris Centre Universités.

External links

Gilbert Béréziat presentation September 2007

Gilbert Béréziat interview

References

{{League of European Research Universities Universities in Paris Educational institutions established in 2005 2005 establishments in France