The decree establishing the creation of Université Gustave Eiffel was published in the Official Journal on December 15, 2019. It announces the birth of a new university that brings together a variety of different skillsets in order to bring a highly topical subject up to top international standards: inventing the cities and territories of tomorrow.
This new university stems from the merge of Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée with IFSTTAR, the European research institute on cities and territories, transport and civil engineering. It incorporates an architecture school, EAV&T, and the three engineering schools, EIVP, ENSG Géomatique and ESIEE Paris. Breaking new ground, it brings together the university / research bodies / schools trio for the first time in France. One of its main purposes is to develop national and international collaborations in order to address the major societal issues generating profound changes in the urban environments that are home to 55% of humanity already.
Opening on 1st January 2020, Université Gustave Eiffel is to become a major academic player in the study of cities and urbanisation processes, the core theme of its collective founding project. This new institution will reexamine urban challenges by producing disruptive knowledge, anticipating the complex transformations in store for cities and territories, and bringing forth innovative solutions. It will contribute to the formalisation of "urban sciences" at both national and international levels. It will set up new pathways for cross-disciplinary training to address the current issues facing society and the challenges of climate change.
The aim of this new university is to build an educational whole that is open, transversal and citizen-oriented, featuring a brand new approach to engineering, human and social sciences, urbanism and architecture, and founded on experimental platforms unique in the European world of research.
It will thus carry out its primary role as a public service for higher education, research and innovation via:
- introductory and continuous training, largely focussed on practical training; from the very start the university will take its place as a leader among French universities for practical training,
- basic and applied research, and innovation,
- support for public policies, expertise and normalisation,
- openness to society and international cooperation.
It is fully capable of further developing the connections it has already formed, through its founding members, with French and international companies.
At the time of its creation, Université Gustave Eiffel hosts 17,000 students, 500 doctoral students, 1,200 researchers, teacher-researchers and teachers, supported by 1,300 assistance and support staff. It is based in France, on various campuses across the Regions. The main university campus is located in Marne-le-Vallée, at the centre of Grand Paris.
This new university is supported by the Programme d'Investissements d'Avenir (PIA) a national initiative to fund investments for the future.
