Université PSL | |
       | |
Other name | Paris Sciences et Lettres University |
|---|---|
| Motto | Sapere Aude |
Motto in English | Dare to know |
| Type | Publiccollegiateresearch university |
| Established | 2010; 15 years ago (2010) (1530 for its oldest constituent college, theCollège de France) |
Academic affiliation | Udice Group TPC |
| Endowment | €750 million |
| President | El-Mouhoub Mouhoud |
Academic staff | 2,900 |
| Students | 17,000 |
| Location | , France 48°51′16.8″N2°20′16.1″E / 48.854667°N 2.337806°E /48.854667; 2.337806 |
| Campus | Quartier latin,Condorcet Campus, Jourdan, Porte Dauphine, Meudon |
| Website | www |
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PSL University (PSL or in FrenchUniversité PSL, forParis Sciences et Lettres) is apublicresearch university andGrand établissement based inParis, France. It was established in 2010 and formally created as a university in 2019.[1] It is acollegiate university with 11 constituent schools, with the oldest founded in 1530. PSL is located in centralParis, with its main sites in theLatin Quarter, at theMontagne Sainte-Geneviève Campus, at the Jourdan Campus, atDauphine Campus, atCondorcet Campus, and atCarré Richelieu.
PSL awardsBachelor's,Master's, andPhD diplomas for its constituent schools and institutes. It offers an education based on research and interdisciplinary instruction, and its 17,000 students have access to a broad range of disciplines inscience,engineering,humanities,social sciences,fine art and performingarts.
PSL alumni and staff include 28Nobel laureates, 11Fields Medalists, 3Abel laureates, 49CNRS Gold Medalists, 50César winners and 79Molière winners.[2][3]
In 2004, institutions in theLatin Quarter began thinking of how to join forces to boost their international visibility. The French law on research promulgated in 2006, which encouraged the formation of research networks (in various forms includingPRES and RTRA), paved the way for new projects such asParis Universitas, PRESParisTech and an early version of the PSL project. This new organization combined five institutions of higher education in the Latin Quarter:Chimie ParisTech,Collège de France,École normale supérieure (Paris),École supérieure de Physique et de Chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris), andObservatoire de Paris.[4] Together, they adopted the status of a scientific cooperation foundation (FCS)(fr). The new entity, called "Paris Sciences et Lettres – Quartier Latin", was initially conceived as a scientific alliance.[5][6] In 2011, the five institutions submitted a joint application for the Initiatives for Excellence (IDEX) as part of France'sInvesting for the Future program (PIA), causing the project to evolve into a new form of French university. This university would have 70% of its students at the Master's and PhD level and offer a Bachelor's program, with an emphasis onequal opportunity students (40% scholarship students in the CPES multidisciplinary preparatory class).
Between 2011 and 2012, ten new institutions joined the foundation:Conservatoire national supérieur d'Art dramatique,Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris,École nationale supérieure des Arts décoratifs,École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts,La Fémis, Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Foundation for Research,Institut Curie, Institut Louis-Bachelier,MINES ParisTech andUniversité Paris Dauphine.[7]
Their arrival reinforced PSL's scientific potential in the fields ofengineering,biology,the arts, andmanagement. In 2014, another four institutions specializing in humanities and social science joined the association:École française d'Extrême-Orient,École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS),École nationale des Chartes, andÉcole pratique des hautes études (EPHE).[8]
In 2015, PSL organized itself into a university community (ComUE: PSL Research University).[9] PSL began awarding PhDs at that point.
In 2010, the French government launched a call for proposals to boost higher education: theInvesting for the Future program (also called thegrand emprunt). PSL has successfully responded to several calls for proposals. In 2011, with the Initiatives for Excellence call for proposals, PSL was one of the first three projects selected,[10][11] along withUniversity of Bordeaux andUniversity of Strasbourg.[12]
While the diversity of project participants has sometimes been cited as a weakness, the promoters of PSL underline the complementarity of its institutions and the potential for collaboration.[13] The funding of the Excellence Initiative has, in addition, supported the creation of 11 Laboratories of excellence (Labex) within PSL: CelTisPhyBio, DCBIOL, DEEP, DYNAMO, ENS-ICFP, ESEP, IEC,IPGG, MemoLife, TransferS, and WIFI. In 2014, the Corail, HaStec, and TEPSIS Labex laboratories joined the list with EHESS and EPHE becoming members of PSL. Also in 2011, PSL's institutions presented ten projects under the "Equipped with excellence" (Equipex) program. Among the initial submissions, they obtained eight Equipex facilities: BEDOFIH, D-FIH, Equip@Meso, ICGex, IPGG, Paris-en-Resonnance, Planaqua, Ultrabrain. These projects have received funding ranging from 2 to 10 million euros.
In 2017, after a detailed review process, nine institutions agreed to put in place an integrated budget and a multi-year strategy for academic recruitment, as well as to create a number of shared platforms and services. Chimie ParisTech, École Nationale des Chartes, École Normale Supérieure, École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, ESPCI Paris, Institut Curie, Observatoire de Paris, MINES ParisTech, Paris-Dauphine University decided to jointly form PSL University. The agreement approved by their respective boards calls for the schools and institutions that form the university to adopt a unified strategy, to submit to the budgetary authority of the president of the university, to jointly plan their recruitment, and to transfer the whole of their diplomas to PSL. Towards the end of the process, in 2018, one of the former members,EHESS, did not approve the new statutes and decided not to be part of the target university.[14]
Beaux-Arts de Paris, Collège de France, Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, École Française d'Extrême-Orient, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, La Fémis,Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique and Institut Louis Bachelier are recognized as associates of the university pending later integration.
In December 2018, an opportunity to formally create a full university arose with a newOrdonnance (ordinance)[15] allowing to create acollegiate university, whose constituents may keep theirlegal personality,[16] similar to British collegiate universities likeOxford andCambridge.
In November 2019, a decree creating Université PSL as acollegiate university and the new statutes of the University were published.[1] A few changes had occurred in the list of constituents, with nine institutions approving the new statutes and becomingétablissement-composante (constituent colleges):Chimie ParisTech,Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique,École Nationale des Chartes,École normale supérieure,École pratique des hautes études,ESPCI Paris,Observatoire de Paris,MINES ParisTech,Paris Dauphine. Additionally,College de France andInstitut Curie became associate members, participating closely in the governance of the University. Associate members contribute to the strategy of the University, receive financial resources from PSL University and may carry scientific programs on behalf and by delegation thereof.
In January 2025, the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Malaquais andÉcole nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs joined PSL as constituent colleges.
PSL is acollegiate university (17,000 students). It consists of 11 constituent schools, with plans to gradually expand to include some or all other associate colleges.[17] Three national research organisations (CNRS,Inserm,Inria) are involved in governance and help to define PSL's strategy, with which they coordinate their own strategies.
The current president isAlain Fuchs. He took over the position from Thierry Coulhon in 2017, when Coulhon was appointed advisor to theFrench President in charge of Education, Higher Education, and Research.
PSL is administered by aBoard of Directors chaired by the PSL president. It relies on the recommendations of an Academic Council and a Strategic Steering Committee. The executive organ of the university is the Executive Committee (the president, vice-presidents, and deans), supported by the Council of Members.
PSL offers education from undergraduate to doctoral level, across all academic disciplines, includinglife sciences,physical sciences,humanities andsocial sciences,creative arts,economics, administration and management.
All of PSL's institutions have adopted a model of education through research.
PSL and theLycée Henri IV, along withMines ParisTech,ESPCI Paris,Paris Dauphine University,Paris Observatory,Ecole normale supérieure andLycée Louis-le-Grand have implemented a three-year undergraduate program : CPES Multidisciplinary undergraduate course.[27]
At Université Paris-Dauphine, a constituent of Université PSL, bachelor's degrees are available for students in the following fields: management, economics and finance, accounting, applied mathematics, computing, journalism (IPJ-Dauphine).
PSL is co-leader of the SDSN Network for France, under the initiative of theUnited Nations.,[28] together withKedge Business School andUniversite Cergy-Pontoise.In this context, Université PSL is promoting that all students shall have access to courses related to climate, biodiversity and sustainability.
PSL has launched in 2020 a bachelor program dedicated to sustainability sciences.
PSL organizes a yearly summer school open to European students, to help understand the challenges of sustainable development: the European School of Positive Impact and Responsibility (ESPOIR).[29]
Université PSL offers training programs for graduate students through its constituent schools in a broad array of disciplines: engineering, fine and applied arts, management, economics, biology, humanities and social sciences, astronomy.
The first post-graduate/Master programme to be created under the umbrella of PSL between l'Université Paris-Dauphine and theEcole normale supérieure, was the specializationPeace Studies launched in 2014 within the Master ofInternational affairs and development.[30]
More than 70% of PSL students are at the Master's or PhD level. University PSL Graduate Programs are inspired by thegraduate schools that can be found in most of the world's research universities. The first two programs of this kind are a Graduate program in the Humanities (Translitterae) and a PhD program in Cognitive science (FrontCog).
The "Science Art Creation Research" (SACRe) doctoral program aims at developing new fields of research by exploring the interfaces between the arts, and between arts and science (hard sciences as well as the humanities and social sciences). The program implements a new kind of PhD in Art strongly articulating practice and theoretical thinking. It brings together, along with theEcole normale supérieure, five French schools of creative and performing arts:CNSAD (French professional acting school),Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (dance, music and sound design),École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs,École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts andLa Fémis.[31]
PSL hosts some 140 laboratories, 2,900 research and teaching staff, and about 100ERC grants. The scientific research strategy is organised around a core of discipline-specific programs and interdisciplinary programs such as the laboratories of excellence (Labex)(fr) and the Interdisciplinary and Strategic Research Initiatives.Examples of interdisciplinary programs areScripta (History and practices of writing),[32] the OCAV program (Origins and Conditions for the Emergence of Life),[33] or the Q-Life Institute.
PSL's research landscape includes the following research fields: law, economics, and business administration; literature, literary theory, and philosophy; aesthetics and art theory; life and health sciences; area studies; energy and engineering; physics; chemistry; history; anthropology; informatics and data science; mathematics; materials science and soft matter science; cognitive science; sociology; earth and space science; religious studies; archaeology and heritage science.
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[34] | 40 (2022) |
| CWUR World[35] | 19 (2024) |
| QS World[36] | 24 (2025) |
| QS Under 50[37] | 5 (2021) |
| THE World[38] | 40 (2024) |
| THE Young Universities[39] | 2 (2024) |
| National – Overall | |
| ARWU National[34] | 2 (2023) |
| CWUR National[35] | 1 (2024) |
| QS National[36] | 1 (2025) |
| THE National[40] | 1 (2024) |
The first recognition of PSL's existence as an integrated university came in 2017, when it appeared on theTimes Higher Education ranking in 72nd place globally and 1st place in France, and 41st place globally in 2018.[41][42][43]
In 2020, PSL University appears for the first time in two other major university rankings:CWTS Leiden Ranking andARWU: in theShanghai ranking[44] it is ranked 36th and 2nd French University behindParis-Saclay University. In ARWU Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (also known as Shanghai Ranking by Subjects) University PSL is ranked among the best world universities in 39 of the 54 subjects, e.g., 10th in the world for Mathematics and for Physics, and 12th in Ecology.
In 2022, Université PSL is ranked first in the Young University Rankings 2022.[45]
International in scope, PSL has cultivated framework agreements with theUniversity of Cambridge,UCL,EPFL,Columbia,Berkeley,NYU,Technion,ANU,Peking University,Shanghai Jiao Tong,National Taiwan University,Tsinghua University, andHong Kong University of Science and Technology.[46]
The PSL Orchestra and Choir is a choral symphonic ensemble open to all members of the Université PSL community. PSL Orchestra and Choir's musical season consists of five different programs and incorporates contemporary work from different countries.[47]
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