List of Public Universities in France

List Of Public Universities In France

This is a list of the eighty-one autonomous public universities in France., including the one French "university centre", which are distinguished as being state institutes of higher education and research that practice open admissions. The list does not include public institutions that practice competitive admissions, such as Paris Dauphine University, which changed status in 2004, the three national polytechnic institutes, the grandes écoles (among which are the three universities of technology), or private universities, such as the Catholic universities, the Protestant universities, the private secular universities, and the American University of Paris. This list does make mention of university systems related to the public universities, including the historic city university systems and the new centres for research and higher education.

The list is organized by academy because this is how the French educational system is organized. France is divided into thirty-five academies, of which thirty-one host the principal administrative seats of universities. Although the rectors or vice-rectors who head the academies do not have administrative control over the universities, the division into academies is nonetheless important because it governs admissions. Students in France have the right to be admitted to a university in the academy in which they passed the baccalauréat, and in some cases to a university in another specified academy.