Who are we

Along with its core-members, the CNRS and the two founding Universities Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis and Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, the Université Paris Lumières (UPL) currently regroups thirteen other associates : the Institut National Supérieur pour l’éducation des jeunes Handicapés et les Enseignements adaptés, the École nationale supérieure Louis-Lumière, the Collège international de Philosophie, the Crédit municipal de Paris, as well as eight cultural and heritage institutions and museums : the Archives nationales, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the CEDIAS-Musée social, the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges-Pompidou, the Institut national de l’audiovisuel (Ina), the Maison des Cultures du Monde, the Musée de l’Histoire de l’immigration, the Musée du Quai Branly and the Pôle Sup’93, all of which makes the UPL stand out among local and national institutions.

The UPL integrates itself into a large and important area characterized by density and diversity. This area forms an arc around the North of Paris, stretching from Montreuil in the East (where one of the technical colleges of Paris 8 is based) to Ville d’Avray in the West (where one finds the technical college of Paris Ouest), delimited to the North by Tremblay-en-France (where the other technical college of Paris 8 is situated) and to the South by La Défense and the pôle Léonard de Vinci (from which Paris Ouest will run a number of its courses). The UPL may also contribute to the future Campus Condorcet, which is to be situated not far from Saint-Denis (Université Paris 8 being one of its founding members), in an effort to constitute, in the Paris region, a vast collaborative network of programs in the Human and Social Sciences of a national and international scope

According to the “STRATER” Diagnostic of Paris region, the UPL was ranked 2nd nationally in the Social Sciences, and 3rd nationally in the Human Sciences and the Humanities. The UPL is home to a quarter of all of the students of the Human and Social Sciences in the Paris region.

Research and education are rendered more efficient as a result of the synergies established between the members of the UPL Community. In this way, the UPL is responsible for implementing a coherent and useful scientific programme, drawn up according to UPL members’ scientific strengths in their respective research fields.

The UPL is launching new research and educational projects within the framework of this programme, thus breaking down the boundaries between disciplines and promoting interdisciplinary research. To this end, two expansive institutional projects have been developed by both of the founding Universities, now under the management of the UPL: the Centre des Arts (Academic Centre of Arts) and the New College of Political Studies. Of strong scientific potential, they will stimulate the UPL’s Community’s scientific programme while simultaneously benefiting from it.