University of Lille


The University of Lille is a French pluridisciplinary public university located in and around Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai, and resulted from the merger in 2018 of the three universities Lille 1 University of Science and Technology, Lille 2 University of Health and Law, and Lille 3 Charles de Gaulle University of humanities, social sciences, literature and arts. With more than 67,000 students, it is the largest French university and one of the largest French-speaking universities in the world.
The university is the main component of the Community of Universities and Institutions Lille Nord de France and the associated European Doctoral College, which federates universities and other higher learning institutes in the Hauts-de-France region.
With 66 research labs, 350 PhD theses supported per year and 3,000 scientific publications each year, it is well represented in the research community; it collaborates with many organizations and schools.
It is labeled I-Site in 2017 by the French government. It benefits from an allocation of 500 million euros for its project «Université Lille Nord-Europe » which aims to classify it in the top 50 universities of Europe.

Schools and divisions

The University of Lille has 24 Schools and Divisions, which are spread into six major domains:
The University of Lille officially has 5 university campuses, located in different cities of the Métropole européenne de Lille.

Campus Cité Scientifique

It is the university campus dedicated to Science and Technology and located in the Villeneuve-d'Ascq technopole. The campus has 150 hectares and a hundred buildings, and the vast majority of places is occupied by the Departments of the Faculty of Science and Technology. There are also several engineering schools and many research laboratories. The buildings are spread around the "LILLIAD Learning Center Innovation" ; and the campus is attached to the European Science Park of "Haute-Borne".
It is the campus dedicated to Health and located between the cities of Lille and Loos; it is the largest university hospital complex in Europe spread over nearly 350 hectares. The Faculties, Institutes and Departments of the university share the premises with the CHU Lille University Hospital and also with the companies and laboratories of "Eurasanté".
It is the campus dedicated to Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts, Literature and Languages. It is located in Villeneuve-d'Ascq.
This campus is spread between the district of Moulins in Lille and the neighboring commune of Ronchin. It is dedicated to Law, Management, and Sports.
This campus includes several educational sites spread over the close communes of Roubaix and Tourcoing, municipalities of the European Metropolis of Lille.
The University's headquarters are located in the Lille-Center district, 42 rue Paul Duez.

Research

The University of Lille is a member of the CURIF: Coordination of French research-intensive universities. CURIF brings together the most important French universities in terms of research.

Notable faculty and alumni

Several former professor or researchers from the University of Lille obtained the CNRS gold medal, the highest scientific distinction in France: Émile Borel, Raoul Blanchard, Paul Pascal, Georges Chaudron, Henri Cartan, Jacques Le Goff, Pierre Bourdieu.
René Cassin won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
Louis Pasteur was the first dean of the science faculty.
Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who holds two doctorates in mathematics from the University of Lille and the Yaoundé University, was rector of University of Bangui from 2005 to 2008, then Prime Minister from 2008 to 2013, before being elected President of the Central African Republic in February 2016.
Notable faculty, staff and alumni in alphabetical order: