Université PSL

Located in the heart of Paris, PSL inspires dialog among and between all areas of knowledge, innovation, and creativity in Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Engineering and the Arts. Selective and committed to equal opportunity, it draws directly from current research to train researchers, entrepreneurs, artists and managers who are aware of their social responsibility, both individual and collective.
With 2,900 researchers, 17,000 students, 140 laboratories and 10 incubators, fab labs and co working spaces , PSL is a human scale university. It ranks among the world’s top 50 universities according to the THE (Times Higher Education) and QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) rankings

The member institutions

All member institutions have a strong identity, a limited number of students and a strong commitment towards research: these are the right conditions for an academic culture of excellence. They have decided to gather in order to join their forces and build research projects of international reach and high-ranking interdisciplinary trainings. PSL has a global academic training offer, from undergraduate programmes to doctoral programmes, in all disciplinary fields, from life and matter sciences to humanities and social sciences, from art creation to economics and management.

The “PSL Project”

The “PSL Project” is anchored by two components, each of them having distinct missions:

• The University and Institutions Community (“ComUe”) called “Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres – PSL Research University” is in charge of its own training and graduation missions, and also of the actions related to the life of an academic community, ie mostly actions for coordinating research policies, knowledge dissemination, international policies, digital policies, coordination of the member’s real-estate strategies and student life.
• The PSL Foundation for Scientific Cooperation (“FCS”), in which the Idex (meaning “excellence initiatives”) programme is anchored, is in charge of managing the key actions of this programme: recruitment for the chairs of excellence, development of strategic international partnerships, innovation and promotion of training and research

PSL has the ambition to quickly become one of the most prominent universities in the world, with a strong international presence, a common signature for its publications (PSL Research University), one research policy for all its disciplinary fields and a jointed training policy.

The member institutions

• Chimie ParisTech (Paris Institute of Chemistry)
• Collège de France
• Conservatoire national supérieur d'Art dramatique (National Academy of dramatic arts – Paris)
• Conservatoire national supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (National Academy of music and dance – Paris)
• École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Centre for advanced research in social sciences)
• École française d'Extrême-Orient (French School of Asian studies)
• École nationale des chartes (National Academy of historical sciences)
• École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (National Academy of decorative arts)
• École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (National Academy of fine arts)
• École normale supérieure
• École Pratique des Hautes Études (Centre for advanced studies in sciences, humanities and theology)
• ESPCI Paris (Paris Academy of applied physics and chemistry)
• Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes pour la recherche (Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Research foundation)
• IBPC-Fondation Edmond de Rothschild (Institute for physiochemical biology – Edmond de Rothschild Foundation)
• Institut Curie (Institute for cancer research)
• Institut Louis Bachelier (Institute for research in economics and finance)
• La Fémis (National Academy of film and media)
• Lycée Henri IV
• MINES ParisTech (MINES ParisTech Graduate school for engineering)
• Observatoire de Paris (Paris Observatory)
• Université Paris-Dauphine
• Association Art et Recherche (Art and research association)
• CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research)
• INRIA (French National Institute for computer science and applied mathematics)
• INSERM (National Institute of Health and Medical Research)
• Institut Pasteur

Cultural and sports initiatives

PSL launches now cultural and sports initiatives, in which students and staff from the member institutions take part. Among these projects, the PSL Chorus and Orchestra is particularly noticeable and followed; there is also the Sports association AS PSL or the Revue PSL journal.

PSL IDEX – 2015 Assessment report

Self-assessment report for the renewal of the initiative of excellence label

• Report at the end of the probationary period (2015) – in French
• Report at the end of the probationary period (2015) – in English
• Appendices3.01 MB
• Indicators263.06 KB