Paris Descartes University (), also known as Paris V, was a French
public university
A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...
located in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. It was one of the inheritors of the historic
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
, which was split into 13 universities in 1970. Paris Descartes completely merged with
Paris Diderot University in 2019 to form a new
Paris Cité University.
It was established as a multidisciplinary university "of humanities and health sciences" ("''des Sciences de l’Homme et de la Santé''". It focused on the areas of medical sciences, biomedical sciences, law, computer science, social sciences, economics and psychology.
Its main campus was in the historic
École de Chirurgie
École or Ecole 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
* Éco ...
in the
6th arrondissement of Paris.
History
The historic
University of Paris
The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
() first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was
divided into thirteen universities, managed by a common rectorate, the
Chancellerie des Universités de Paris, after the student protests of the
French May.
Administration
Campus
Descartes University has ten campuses in Paris. Its headquarters are centered on the "Collège de chirurgie", which was built in place of the "Collège de Bourgogne", in the
Quartier Latin, on the rue des Écoles. The teaching facilities and the research laboratories are housed in the Saints-Pères university center, as far as the medical school and the social sciences school are concerned. The refurbished Henri-Piéron center contains the school of psychology, whereas the Law school is located in
Malakoff. The dentistry school is located in
Montrouge.
Admission
The undergraduate program of Paris Descartes is selective, with an acceptance rate of 11%.
Admission to the second year of the university's master programs is selective as well, some of these programs admitting only 1.7% of applicants which can represent 25 students by programs.
International conventions
The University Paris V has signed over 150 conventions with foreign universities across five continents, including Manchester, Warwick, Copenhagen, Rome, Madrid, Rotterdam, Helsinki, Stockholm or Ghent.
Research
Areas
The university focuses on medical sciences (medicine, dental medicine, pharmacy, psychology), biomedical sciences (cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry, chemistry, biomedical physics), social sciences (sociology, anthropology, linguistics, demographics, science of education), mathematics, computer science and law (information technology law, business law, tax law, public law, private law...).
The University Paris Descartes supports a modern approach to social sciences on the basis of
fieldwork
Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...
,
participant observation
Participant observation is one type of data collection method by practitioner-scholars typically used in qualitative research and ethnography. This type of methodology is employed in many disciplines, particularly anthropology (including cultur ...
and
ethnography
Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...
(master's degree in cultural and social anthropology at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences). The dual master's degree ("Economics and Psychology" and "Cogmaster") in partnership with other important French academic institutions such as
Panthéon-Sorbonne University and the
École Normale Supérieure
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...
emphasizes opportunities offered as far as research is concerned.
CESAMES
In 1994
Alain Ehrenberg founded
and co-directed the research group "Psychotropics, Politics, Society" (Centre de recherche Psychotropes, Santé mentale, Société, aka CESAMES).
This is a joint research unit of Paris Descartes and the
Centre national de la recherche scientifique
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe.
In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...
(CNRS - National Centre for Scientific Research), where Ehrenberg is professor of sociology.
Rankings
Paris Descartes was rated by the 2017
QS World University Rankings
The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
by Subject:
*51–100th in
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
and
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur betwee ...
(1st ex aequo in France),
*151–200 in
Biological Sciences (4th ex aequo in France),
*121 in
Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
(2nd in France),
*251–300th in
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
(2nd in France),
*251–300th in
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
(3rd ex aequo in France)
It was also rated by the 2016/17
The Times Higher Education Subject Rankings as:
*201–250 (4th ex aequo in France) in Medicine,
*201–250 (1st in France) in Psychology.
In Law, in 2016/17, it was not ranked among the top 10 of France of
Eduniversal rankings.
Notable people
Faculty members
*
Georges Balandier
*
Jean-Michel Berthelot
*
Erwan Dianteill
*
Erol Gelenbe
*
Axel Kahn
*
Michel Kazatchkine
*
Michel Maffesoli
*
Hervé Morin
*
Georges Vigarello
Alumni
*
Amal Bourquia, Moroccan nephrologist, university professor, medical writer
*
Olivier Brandicourt, physician and former CEO of Sanofi
*
Jacqueline Dutheil de la Rochère, former president of
Panthéon-Assas University
*
Jon Elster, social and political theorist
*
François Fillon, former French Prime Minister
*
Béatrice Galinon-Mélénec, founder of the e. laboratory on Human Trace Complex System Unesco
*
Nadey Hakim, surgeon and Vice President of the Royal Society of Medicine
*
Keuky Lim, former
Minister for Foreign Affairs of the
Khmer Republic
*
Ramata Ly-Bakayoko, Ivorian Minister of Women, Families, and Children
*
Sophie Postel-Vinay, French physician and oncology researcher
*
Élizabeth Teissier, astrologist
Points of interest
*
Jardin Botanique, Université Paris V
*
Musée d'Anatomie Delmas-Orfila-Rouvière
Gallery
File:Université René Descartes, Paris 1.JPG,
File:Paris-Descartes Building.JPG,
File:Paris 75006 Boulevard Saint-Germain no 083 Faculté de Medecine 20110225 (01).jpg,
See also
*
René Descartes
René Descartes ( , ; ; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and Modern science, science. Mathematics was paramou ...
References
External links
*
University web siteFaculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales - SorbonneInstitut de Psychologie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris Descartes
Buildings and structures in the 6th arrondissement of Paris
Medical schools in France
1970 establishments in France
2019 disestablishments in France
University of Paris