The Paris Lumières University (UPL) is a ComUE (for Communautés d’Universités et d’Établissements in French), namely a community of leading universities and establishments, which is able to award degrees and has a specific budget (unlike the former PRES, the Pôles de recherche et d’enseignement supérieur (PRES), that existed in France from 2007 to 2013).

The Paris Lumières University (UPL) is based on a specialised cohesive and well-defined scientific programme, sustains a range of initiatives for the promotion of higher education in Île-de-France and pays special attention to the development of periurban areas.

In collaboration with its founding members, the CNRS with Paris 8 Vincennes - Saint-Denis University and Paris Nanterre University, the Paris Lumières University (UPL) has joined forces with the Institut National Supérieur pour l’éducation des jeunes Handicapés et les Enseignements Adaptés (INS HEA), the Ecole nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière (ENS LL), the Collège international de Philosophie (CIPh), the Institut national de l’audiovisuel (INA) and the LouvreMuseum, as well as six cultural, heritage or museum institutions: the Archives nationales, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Académie Fratellini, the Centre Pompidou, the Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration, the Musée du Quai Branly, the Cédias - Musée Social and Pôle Sup’93, giving it a unique identity in the Île-de-France and national institutional landscape.

The UPL is located in a dense and diverse community that extends to the north and west of the Île-de-France from the Nanterre to Saint-Denis campuses, and south-west to Ville d’Avray (IUT de Paris Nanterre), then northwards to Tremblay-en-France (IUT de Paris 8) and eastwards towards Montreuil (Paris 8 University’s other IUT). Close to Nanterre is the strategic location of La Défense and the Pôle Léonard de Vinci, where several classes are offered by Paris Nanterre and the University of Paris-Dauphine. Saint-Denis is close to the Campus Condorcet, partially founded by Paris 8 University and supported by the UPL, to create a vast collaborative network of leading national and international institutions in the field of human and social sciences in the region.

According to the Strater evaluation, Paris Lumières is the second leading French university in social sciences and third in humanities. In the Île-de-France region, the UPL welcomes a quarter of all students enrolled in human and social sciences courses.

The UPL is a pioneer in research and education thanks to a number of successful collaborations with its member institutions. It provides a cohesive and structured scientific programme, driven by the scientific strengths of its institutions, which bring a different field of research to the table.

The UPL conducts new research and training projects as part of its scientific programme characterised by the decompartmentalisation of disciplines and by inter-, trans- and multi-disciplinary research. Two large-scale institutional projects were launched by the two founding universities and are now supported by the UPL. Thanks to their strong scientific potential, the Centre des Arts and the Nouveau Collège d’Etudes Politiques strengthen the positive momentum of the scientific programme, while benefiting from its success.

Research teams

Paris Lumières University covers all disciplines in the field of human and social sciences plus a number of hard science and life science disciplines in its three IUTs and three faculties (UFRs), spanning science, technology and health: computer science, engineering, mathematics, biology, and engineering sciences. Attached to and working with 68 research units and structures, 62 of which are in the field of human and social sciences, including 14 UMRs (Mixed Research Units), two USRs (Service and Research Units) and three FRs (Research Training Programmes), and in ten doctoral schools (EDs), the UPL has a total of 1,307 teacher-researchers, 1,206 of whom specialise in human and social sciences.