University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (, UVSQ) is a French public university created in 1991, located in the department of Yvelines and, since 2002, in Hauts-de-Seine. It is a constituent university of the federal Paris-Saclay University.
Consisting of eight separate campuses, it is mainly located in the cities of Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Mantes-en-Yvelines, Vélizy-Villacoublay and Rambouillet. It is one of the five universities of the Academy of Versailles.
It is one of the four universités nouvelles (new universities) inaugurated in the Île-de-France region after the 2000 University project (). It has a population of 19,000 students, a staff of 752 people, and 1,389 teachers and researchers, as well as an additional 285 external teachers.
The university teaches courses in the fields of natural science, social science, political science, engineering, technology, and medicine. It also provides interdisciplinary courses covering the relationships across economics, ethics, natural environment and sustainable development.
History
Origin
A branch of the Pierre and Marie Curie University was created in Versailles in 1987 to increase the university's capacity for enrollment. It focused on the study of science, and merged with the law annex of Paris West University Nanterre La Défense established two years earlier at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. In the 1990s, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research developed the French higher education modernization plan called Université 2000, and created eight unaffiliated universities, known as new universities. The Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University was officially created on 22 July 1991 from the relocation of the two centres of Pierre and Marie Curie University and Paris West University Nanterre La Défense.
A new status
In 1996, the status of the university was changed by law. The law, legislated in 1984, required that the university have elected officials. Michel Garnier was its first president, and created committees that included a board of directors, a scientific council, and a student life council. Dominique Gentile was the second president, and created new annexes such as the Ph.D. School, the University Institute of Technology, and Professionalized University Institute of art, science, culture, and multimedia. During this period, the College of Medicine of Paris-Descartes University was relocated to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and renamed "Paris-Île-de-France-Ouest" (PIFO). It is part of the UVSQ today. Increasing tertiary enrollment in France from 1997 to 2002 increased enrollment at UVSQ.
2002 to present
In 2002, Sylvie Faucheux became the president of the university. The university applied the réforme LMD to its courses in 2004. The CFA d'Alembert was created at Guyancourt in 2006. In 2007, Unité de formation et de recherche médicale Paris Île-de-France Ouest (PIFO) moved to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, and UniverSud Paris was established, with Paris-Sud 11 University, École Normale Supérieure de Cachan, and UVSQ as members, among others. In 2010, the humanities and social sciences college of UVSQ was split into four: the institut des études culturelles (cultural studies institute), institut supérieur de management (management institute), institut de langues et études internationales (languages and international studies institute), and social sciences research institute. The university expanded to develop the plateau de Saclay (in English European Silicon Valley), an area with world-class universities and research centers. As a founding member of UniverSud Paris, UVSQ supported scientific cooperation and the Paris-Saclay research-intensive cluster. A partnership with Cergy-Pontoise University was considered in 2011, and Université du grand ouest parisien was created in February 2012. An Institut d'études politiques commons for both universities is being studied.
Students' profile and demographic changes
This table shows the changes in student population, from 1993 to 2013. The number of students enrolled has more than doubled over the past ten years.
In 2013-2014, the UVSQ welcomed approximately 9,600 undergraduate, 6,600 graduate and 700 post-graduate students.
The most popular degree courses are law, economics, and management, with almost 6,200 students representing 37% of total enrollment in 2013, followed by science and engineering school (31%).
Overall, more than half of the undergraduate students enrolled every year are female (60%), except for first-year students at Mantes and Vélizy IUT (University Institute of Technology), two-thirds of whom are male.