A rich university offer

Its history is run through by the thread of a double culture, French and German. The University of Strasbourg (UdS) became a single entity in February 2009, embracing in a vast conglomerate three institutions: Louis Pasteur University, dedicated to the sciences, medicine and technology – it boasts a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1987 and a Fields mathematics medal in 2006 – Marc Bloch, the Social Sciences University, and Robert Schuman, the University of Law, Political Science and Economics. The 42,000 students (including 21% foreign students) plus the 6,000 lecturers and other staff make it France’s largest multi-disciplinary university.

Driven, with its 2,500 researchers, by the ambition to constitute one of the major centres of university research in Europe, UdS is involved in numerous partnerships, such as EU COR (Confederation of the Universities of the Upper Rhine), a tri-national network of universities including Basle in Switzerland, Karlsruhe and Freiburg in Germany, and Mulhouse in France. It is also a founder member of the LE RU, the League of European Research Universities. Its outstanding performances in particular fields such as molecular biology, biotechnology, chemistry, materials physics and space sciences have contributed for many years to its international reputation.

Recognized as a centre of excellence and innovation, Strasbourg has attracted many other entities, universities or institutes with a national, international and European scope. Here are just a few examples:

> the International Space University (ISU):founded in 1987, it was initially located in Massachusetts, in the United States, until an international competition chose Strasbourg in 1994. The ISU trains students, future professionals, astronauts and experts in a multi-disciplinary culture adapted to space projects. All the knowledge of the existing space bodies is concentrated there. This scientific experience, unique, attracts specialists from all over the world

> the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP): created by G8 on a Japanese initiative, it has been based in Strasbourg since 1989. This international programme cultivates fundamental research in the field of the mechanisms of living organisms and complex biological systems

> the IRCAD (Research Institute against Cancer of the Digestive Tract): its basic and applied research programmes as well as its teaching of new surgical technologies have made its worldwide reputation. This exceptional structure covering 8000 m², established in 1994, receives 3,000 surgeons every year, covering all the different specialities

> the ENA (National School of Administration): created in 1945, it was decentralized to Strasbourg in 1992, thus increasing the city’s top level European and academic standing. The ENA trains the future top civil servants for the French administration, but is also attended by students of over a hundred nationalities.