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".
Sorbonne University participates in public debates that cross our contemporary societies through numerous University events that are open to the public. It also advocates for equal access to knowledge, from the bachelor’s degree to the doctorate and throughout adult life. It offers education enriched by the mind set and methods of research and enables students to build their own futures. Its programs develop students’ skills and critical thinking to help them become tomorrow’s professionals, as well as active, enlightened citizens.
The research division's focus is to respond to certain important issues of twenty-first century societies. The need to reduce pollution and energy consumption leads to considerable research in the field of mechanics: reduced emissions through optimized gears and new engine concepts, particularly in the field of land and air transport. Biomedical imaging and modeling of the living is another important focus, with work on numerical modeling of the cardiovascular system, the analysis of human posture and gesture done in robotics, electromagnetic modeling of the living in electronics laboratories.
The Paris Regional Student Services Office (CROUS; Centre Régional des Oeuvres Universitaires et Scolaires) is a public establishment under the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research. It's aim is to help improve the living and working conditions of students in the Académie de Paris (regional education authority).
The libraries offer a set of collections and services to users within UPMC.The Jussieu Inter-university Science Library and the SCDM (Common Medical Reference Service) provide access to a large number of scientific and biomedical databases as well as to a vast choice of unabridged journals and electronic books.
UPMC offers various solutions for accessing the internet either from numerous work stations or from laptops using the Wifi network deployed across various sites.
On your laptop (or a laptop borrowed from the library), you can choose between Wifi networks: CanalIPThe university provides you with the means to stay in good health: at the University Preventive Medicine Service you can see general practitioners, specialists and psychiatrists. This service also carries out health education and promotion initiatives.
Physical and sports activities at UPMC are provided by two different but complementary structures:the Department of Physical and Sports Activities (DAPS; Département des Activités Physiques et Sportives), a UPMC teaching department, organises personal training courses for all, traineeships and approved certificate courses, supervised by physical and sports education teachers who are also responsible for the majority of competition training;the UPMC Sports Association (AS; Association sportive) [AS-UPMC], a non-profit association, manages university competitions with the French Federation of University Sports (FFSU; Fédération française du sport universitaire) and organises recreational activities.
The university has an active policy on enhancing living conditions in all aspects of the entire university community: social, health, cultural, sports, etc.
There are about 113 student associations.