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).
Size and scope
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.
The university is renowned in the fields of Law and Economics. Even though French universities are required by law to admit anyone with a Baccalauréat, strain is put on the students from the start and the first year drop-out rate consistently hovers in the 60% region. At the postgraduate level, the university offers very competitive programs (highly selective master's degrees in Law and Business) and partnerships with some grandes écoles such as the Ecole Polytechnique, ESSEC, Ecole des Mines de Paris, and ESCP Europe among others.
The Rene Ginouves Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology (Maison de l'archeologie et de l'ethnologie Rene Ginouves) is another important institution on campus, merging the departments of the CNRS, Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne and Paris X-Nanterre.
As in most Parisian universities, there is a large minority of foreign exchange students.
Over the years, Nanterre has developed innovative programs such as the double bilingual courses in French Law and Anglo-American, Spanish, Russian, German or Italian law; in Economics & Management (with half of the courses in French and half of the courses in another foreign language); and in History (with half of the courses in French and half of the courses in another foreign language). These programs have inspired many universities and grandes écoles throughout the country and are now renowned on a national level.
Some famous alumni:
Nicolas Sarkozy, Former President of France, former President of the Union for a Popular Movement, former Interior Minister and former MP (Master of Laws in 1978)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, former French Minister of Economy and Finance, former MP, economist
Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, former Home secretary and Foreign Secretary; Writer
David Guetta DJ, Producer. Bachelor of Laws
Brice Hortefeux, former French Minister of Immigration
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, "Dany le Rouge", leader of the May 68 student rebellion and Member of the European Parliament
Christine Lagarde, Head of International Monetary Fund, former Minister of trade, former president of Baker & McKenzie
Leonardo López Luján, Mexican archaeologist, Director of the Templo Mayor Project
Frederic Mitterrand, former French Minister of Culture and Communications
Jean-Jacques Aillagon, former Minister for Culture, head of the Palazzo Grassi
Jean-Luc Marion, philosopher
Olivier Besancenot, former leader of the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire (LCR)
Françoise de Panafieu, MP and Mayor of the XVIIth district of Paris
Manuel Pinho, Portuguese politician and economist
Olivier Duhamel, law teacher at Sciences-Po, former politician and former Member of the European Parliament
Guy Carcassonne, expert in constitutional law
Luc Brisson, philosopher
Daniel Cohen, economist and journalist for Le Monde
Alain Farshian, freelance journalist for newspapers such as Le Monde
Vincent Bolloré, CEO of Bolloré and ranked the 451st-equal richest person in the world
Sylvie Germain, writer
Yasmina Reza, writer and actress
Jeanne Mas, pop singer
Tiago Nené, Portuguese poet
Pedro Bereciartu Parra, arepólogo, specialist in the "arepa venezolana", the Venezuelan bread
Andreas D. Mavroyiannis, former Cyprus Deputy Minister for European Affairs
Cheng Li-chun, Minister of Culture, Taiwan (ROC)
Maurice Allais, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1988
Jean-Jacques Becker, historian
Guy Carcassonne, French expert in constitutional law
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician; Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, 2007 – 2011
René Rémond, historian and political economist
Denis Buican, French historian of biology, 1983 – 2003
Jack Lang, French politician, 1986 – 1988 and 1993 – 1999
Michel Aglietta, French economist, founder of the regulation school
Michel Crozier, French sociologist and member of the Académie des sciences morales et politiques
Emmanuel Lévinas, philosopher, 1967
Jean Baudrillard, philosopher.
Paul Ricœur, philosopher, 1966 – 1970
Étienne Balibar, philosopher
Matty Chiva, professor of psychology
Henri Lefebvre, geographer, professor, and influential figure in the events of 1968
André Legrand, professor of French and comparative public law, Human Rights, Civil Liberties
Claude Lepelley, historian, 1984 – 2002
Danièle Lochak, professor of law specialising in human rights and civil liberties; Former president of the GISTI; member of the Ligue des droits de l'homme; Director of the Centre de recherches et d'études sur les droits fondamentaux
Pierre Mélandri, historian
Robert Merle, novelist
Alain Pellet, French expert on international law
Catherine Perret philosopher
Michèle Perret, linguistics professor and novelist
Jean-Pierre Rioux, historian
Yves Roucaute, philosopher, political scientist, Director of the "Cahiers de la Securite"
Jean-François Sirinelli, historian
Alain Farshian, freelance journalist, former contributor to Le Monde
Michel Troper, professor at the University of Paris X-Nanterre; member of the Institut Universitaire de France; Director of the Centre de Théorie du Droit
Damianakos Stathis, Greek agriculturist and sociologist
François Laruelle, philosopher
Zoi Konstantopoulou, a Greek human rights lawyer and politician of the Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza), also Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament
La Chinoise, by Jean-Luc Godard,1967
My Sex Life...or How I Got Into an Argument, by Arnaud Desplechin, 1996
The Spanish Apartment, by Cédric Klapisch, 2002
District 13 (Banlieue 13), by Pierre Morel, 2004
