Université Catholique de Lille

History

The year of the Wallon Law of 12 July 1875 freeing up higher education, the Catholic University of Lille was founded by a committee of lay Ultramontanes including Philibert Vrau, "embarrassed" by the absence of such a structure in Lille while public schools were established in Lille since 1854. This was amidst a national debate on secularism before the church-state separation in France.

The Faculty of Medicine was created in 1876 and the College of Theology in 1877. The official inauguration took place on 15 January 1877, upon receipt of the papal bull which gave the Catholic University of Lille canonical status.

The Foundation of the Catholic University of Lille

The Foundation of the Catholic University of Lille was created under the aegis of the Fondation de France to support the general activities of the University: support for teaching and research, support of students, and heritage restoration. The foundation also awards scholarships and supports solidarity projects run by students.

In 2014, the research activity of the Catholic University of Lille included nearly 440 teachers and researchers and 130 doctoral students (enrolled in the PhD Doctoral Schools Public University), which corresponds approximately to 240 ETP research. This workforce is spread over fifty research units in disciplines as diverse as nanoscience, psychology, economics, law, or theology. Some Catho research units are labeled and carried under joint supervision with public universities. These are of two mixed units: CNRS (LEM - UMR 8179, IEMN - UMR 8520) and two host teams (EA - LGCgE, EA - L2EP). There is also a Clinical Research Center. And the medical school maintains a center for Economic Geology, Jardin botanique Nicolas Boulay.

For about ten years, Lille Catholic University institutions worked at structuring and strengthening their research activity. At the federation level, this focused on the organization of research, with the appointment of a Vice-president for Research – Cailliez Jean-Charles (2003–2012) and Nicolas Vaillant (2012 - ) – and the creation of a research council of the University. This organization induced structuring of research areas covered by the centers and the faculty of the federation, fostering the emergence of major cross-cutting themes. They share concern for the betterment of life in contemporary society: responsibilities and risks; ethics, care, and loss of autonomy; energy, housing, environment, and sustainable development; innovation, collective intelligence, and new human interactions.