Sorbonne University is a multidisciplinary, research-intensive, and world-class academic institution. Firmly rooted in the heart of Paris, it is committed to its students' success and devoted to meeting the scientific challenges of the 21st century.
As a research-intensive university, Sorbonne University covers the entire range of Humanities, Medicine, and Sciences, pursuing the humanist tradition that has been the Sorbonne hallmark since 1257.
To meet the challenges of the 21st century, the research teams at Sorbonne University will be as invested in the heart of their subject matter as they are in interdisciplinary approaches. Light from the bachelor's degree and on throughout life. Also, Sorbonne University aims to share our fundamental heritage and the new forms of knowledge it develops with society.
From its foundation in the centuries-long history of the Sorbonne, it has built an original governance and organization model: its three faculties will have a large degree of autonomy to allow each of them to meet the scientific challenges of the 21st century.
The research emerging from Sorbonne University's laboratories is both fundamental and applied, free and collaborative. To be of more splendid service to society, the university is committed to innovation through technology transfer. Invested in its students' future, Sorbonne University sets out to provide them with a substantial body of knowledge and the required skills that will help turn them into the seasoned professionals of tomorrow.
The roots of Sorbonne University trace back to the medieval University of Paris. Founded in the mid-12th century, it quickly achieved the stature and prestige that have remained undiminished ever since. The Collège de la Sorbonne, officially founded in 1257, underwent a substantial overhaul in 1885, and then the May 1968 protests brought about the decision to divide the institution into 13 autonomous universities. Among these are Université Paris-Sorbonne and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, now reunited.
In the thirteenth century, the masters and students of the capital organized into a corporation to offer a complementary education to that of the school of theology of Notre Dame. Students flocked immediately from the "four Nations" - French, Picardy, Norman, and English—and were lodged in pious foundations called "colleges", including the one founded by Robert de Sorbon in 1253 the flanks of the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève.
Intended for the neediest students who were eager to undertake theological studies, the college of Sorbon obtained the approval of King Saint-Louis, who confirmed its foundation in 1257. The establishment is quickly established as a faculty of theology renowned and establishes itself permanently in the heart of medieval Paris. The Italian poet Dante and the philosopher Saint Thomas d'Aquin both stayed there.
From century to century, the college that is later called "the Sorbonne" plays a growing role in the life of the kingdom and actively participates in the intellectual debate—oscillating, according to an eventful history, between jealous conservatism and enlightened liberalism. Briefly closed after the French Revolution, it was reassigned to teaching during the Restoration by King Louis XVIII. He took the opportunity also to install the Academy of Paris and the School of Charters in 1821. The prestigious college became synonymous with the University of Paris, gradually bringing together the faculties of letters and science in the capital.
At the end of the 19th century, the city of Paris and the university were rebuilt together, so many university buildings, including the Sorbonne, belong to the city. In ten years, from 1885 to 1896, the French universities acquired the legal identity even if the rector remained the great master as happened under Napoleon. At the end of the 50s, in front of the poverty and the dilapidation of the premises of the Sorbonne, the Faculty of sciences was allowed to move to the Halle aux Vins (the wine market), which became the future campus Jussieu.
After the events of May 1968 and to cope with the democratization of higher education, the Edgar Faure law reshaped universities' organization. Thus, the University of Paris was divided into 13 universities, including Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris IV), which specialized in letters, arts, and humanities, and Pierre and Marie Curie University (UPMC - Paris VI) ), specializing in science and medicine. (see also the heading Patrimonies).
Paris-Sorbonne and UPMC started collaborating to create academic programs during the 2000s, which they reinforce as of 2010 with the Sorbonne Universities Foundation's creation. The winner in 2012 of the Excellence Initiative (Idex) call for projects launched by the national government enabled the two universities' communities to create many ambitious projects.
The presidency of Sorbonne University is located at the historic site of less Cordeliers in the Latin Quarter's heart, which also houses scientific and medical research laboratories. Close by, the Sorbonne's historical building is one of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities locations, which it shares with the Rectorat de Paris and other Parisian universities. Nearly 100,000 square meters are dedicated to the academic and research activities of Sorbonne University and other locations spread throughout the capital. The Faculty of Arts and Humanities is divided between the Clignancourt, Malesherbes, Michelet, and Sorbonne locations.
At the Place Jussieu, the Pierre and Marie Curie campus house the majority of the laboratories and classrooms used by the Faculty of Sciences, in addition to libraries and student-dedicated spaces. With the 90-meter-high Zamansky Tower at its heart, this campus alone covers an area of 400,000 square meters. The Faculty's locations are split between Paris and the surrounding region and the three marine stations in Banyuls-Sur-Mer, Roscoff, and Villefranche-sur-Mer. The Faculty of Medicine, on the other hand, is divided between the hospital locations of la Pitié-Salpêtrière, Saint-Antoine, Tenon, Trousseau, Charles Foix-Ivry, and Rothschild.
The site of La Sorbonne includes, among other things, a chapel commissioned by Richelieu in the 17th century and endowed with a superb Baroque façade, as well as numerous salons, all classified as historical monuments. Over the last decade, numerous sites of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities have undergone renovation and redevelopment projects, particularly the completely-rebuilt Clignancourt location. The Pierre and Marie Curie campus has also benefitted from a wide-ranging renovation project that lasted more than 20 years and was completed in 2016. The architect Albert's modular "Grill" design, so characteristic of this location, has now been modified to meet the needs of research, academics, and student life in a contemporary international university setting. Students, Faculty and staff, can now enjoy a campus with lush greenery that's open to the city.
Sorbonne University also possesses a top-tier scientific heritage. Each Faculty has its treasures and archives: papyri that are thousands of years old are conserved at the Institute of Papyrology, the most crucial paleontological collection in France after the Louvre, one of the oldest mineral collections in France, and a zoological collection like nothing else in Paris. Finally, the Charcot Library's remarkable collections preserve the first works of neurology dating back to the 19th century.
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