Université Paris Nanterre | |
Type | Public |
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Established | 1964 |
President | Jean-François Balaudé |
Students | 32,000 |
Location | Nanterre, France |
Campus | Urban |
Affiliations | University of Paris, Elles Bougent |
Website | parisnanterre.fr |
Paris Nanterre University (French: Université Paris Nanterre), formerly called "Paris X Nanterre" and more recently "Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense", is a French university in the Academy of Versailles. It is one of the most prestigious French universities, mainly in the areas of law, humanities, political science, social sciences and economics. It is one of the thirteen successor universities of the University of Paris. It is located in the western suburb of Nanterre, in the La Défense area, the business district of Paris. The university is commonly referred to as Nanterre.
Nanterre was built in the 1960s on the outskirts of Paris as an extension of the Sorbonne. It was set up as an independent university in December 1970. Based on the American model, it was created as a campus (as opposed to the old French universities which were smaller and integrated with the city in which they were located).
Nanterre became famous shortly after its opening by being at the center of the May '68 student rebellion. The campus was nicknamed "Nanterre, la folle" (Mad Nanterre) or "Nanterre la rouge" (Red Nanterre, in reference to communism).
Nanterre is the second largest campus in France after Nantes, with its own Olympic-sized swimming pool and a stadium. It welcomes 35,000 to 40,000 students every year in all fields of studies: Social Sciences, Philosophy, Literature, History, Languages and Linguistics, Economics, Law and Political Sciences, as well as Teacher Training, Acting, Cinema, Physiology and Sports.