University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne

History

The historic University of Paris (French: Université de Paris) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was reorganised in 1970 as 13 autonomous universities after the student protests of the French May.

The split of the University of Paris

In 1945, at the end of the World War II, the University of Paris was faced with its own problems, which had been exacerbated by the war and foreign occupation. Students were crammed into overcrowded classrooms and lecture theatres, and the teaching staff, who were too few in number, did not have the resources to monitor and supervise them properly.

The decentralisation of university campuses and centres in and around the capital was mainly the work of the Fifth French Republic in the early years of its existence. This policy achieved its objectives, in particular by responding to the problems posed by student numbers. The government also believed it could control student access to university, by organising a strict selection process at the entrance to faculties and creating university technical institutes (IUT) in the Paris suburbs. As this reform had not been negotiated with all the interested parties, it was rejected by students in an unfavourable political and social climate, and provoked a veritable insurrection in faculties in Paris and the other regions.

During the French May and following months of conflict between students and authorities at the University of Paris at Nanterre, the administration shut down that university on 2 May 1968. Students of the University of Paris protested the closure and the threatened expulsion of several students at Nanterre on 3 May 1968.

In Paris, where the university had become very difficult to manage due to the sheer number of professors and students, the law of 12 November 1968 led to the creation in 1969 of thirteen universities to succeed the University of Paris (nicknamed "the Sorbonne"), which ceased to exist.

At the instigation of professors François Luchaire (public law), Henri Bartoli (economics), and Hélène Ahrweiler (humanities), the three official co-founders of the university, the Paris 1 "Panthéon-Sorbonne" University was created in 1971 from the merger of part of the Faculty of Law and Economics (Panthéon) and part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sorbonne).

While Paris-Sorbonne University (now Sorbonne University) and Sorbonne Nouvelle succeeded the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Paris, Panthéon-Assas University the Faculty of Law, and Pierre and Marie Curie University (now Sorbonne University) and Paris Descartes University (now Paris Cité University) the Faculty of Sciences, Panthéon-Sorbonne University was founded as an interdisciplinary university.

The majority of the law professors from the faculty of law and economics at the University of Paris desired to restructure their faculty into a university. However, most of the faculty's economists and political scientists, whose disciplines were secondary in the Faculty of Law of Paris, wanted to join a multidisciplinary university they hurried ahead of their colleagues and established Paris I and were joined by professors of the faculty of humanities and a few professors of the faculty of law and economics.

Every year, around 400 PhD theses are defended, and 1,700 pre-PhD post-graduate degrees are awarded in 74 subjects, divided between 15 graduate schools.

Controversies

Tolbiac blockades

The Tolbiac center of Paris 1, which previously hosted the undergraduate lectures in law, is regularly subject to blockades, which cause cancellation of all lectures for up to several months, including in 1995, 1997, 2006, 2007–09, 2010, and 2018.

Attempts of automatic pass for students

Student unions regularly demand that the university grant student an automatic pass, in particular at each blockade or strike. In 2020, during the covid crisis, the committee at Paris I in charge of exams decided to grant that right (i.e. to cancel marks under 10), but some professors asked the courts to cancel this decision A first court validated the decision of the committee, but a second one cancelled its decision.