The University of Poitiers (UP; french: Université de Poitiers) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universi ...

located in

Poitiers Poitiers (, , , ; Poitevin: ''Poetàe'') is a city on the River Clain in west-central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and the historical centre of Poitou. In 2017 it had a population of 88,291. Its agglome ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is a member of the

Coimbra Group The Coimbra Group (CG) is an international association of 41 universities in Europe. It was established in 1985. It works for the benefit of its members by promoting "internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and resear ...

. It is multidisciplinary and contributes to making Poitiers the city with the highest student/inhabitant ratio in France by welcoming nearly 28,000 students in 2017. The University of Poitiers represents a global operating budget of around 150 million euros per year, one-third of which is for operating and investment costs and two-thirds for personnel costs. As of July 2015 it is a member of the regional university association

Leonardo da Vinci consolidated University Leonardo da Vinci consolidated University (Université confédérale Léonard de Vinci) is the association of universities and higher education institutions (ComUE) for institutions of higher education and research in the French regions of Centre ...

History

Founded in 1431 by

Pope Eugene IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

and

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the re ...

ed by King Charles VII, the University of Poitiers was originally composed of five faculties: theology, canon law, civil law, medicine, and arts. In the 16th century, the university exerted its influence over the town cultural life, and was ranked second only to Paris. Of the 4,000 students who attended it at the time, some were to become famous:

Joachim Du Bellay Joachim du Bellay (; – 1 January 1560) was a French poet, critic, and a founder of the Pléiade. He notably wrote the manifesto of the group: '' Défense et illustration de la langue française'', which aimed at promoting French as an a ...

, Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac,

François Rabelais François Rabelais ( , , ; born between 1483 and 1494; died 1553) was a French Renaissance writer, physician, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He is primarily known as a writer of satire, of the grotesque, and of bawdy jokes ...

René Descartes René Descartes ( or ; ; Latinized: Renatus Cartesius; 31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650) was a French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, widely considered a seminal figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science. Ma ...

, and Scévole de Sainte-Marthe, to name but a few. After temporary closure during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

when provincial universities were abolished, the University of Poitiers reopened in 1796. The reinstated university was merged from several schools and contained new faculties such as the faculty of science and the faculty of

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet. * Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alpha ...

. They established the École nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de Poitiers, a department which trains engineers, in 1984 after having created the ''Institut de sciences et techniques de Poitiers'', its predecessor. The first

Confucius Institute Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs funded and arranged currently by the , a government-organized non-governmental organization (GONGO) under the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic o ...

in France was created on the campus in 2005 with the cooperation of

Nanchang University Nanchang University (NCU; ) is a public research university located in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. NCU has also been recognized as a National Key University in the nation. Based on the new plan initiated by Chinese Ministry of Education in 2017, ...

and Jiujiang University. After having managed its payroll and budget since January 1, 2010, the University of Poitiers is the third university in France to have its premises. In late 2011 the university changed its logo. They submitted four so that students and the staff were able to decide. The up-to-date logo is based on the original coat of arms while the former was something modern. Over 9,000 people participated in the selection of the new logo. In 2012, the university launched a blogging platform where the teaching staff and researchers deal with topical subjects, each in their area of expertise. The slogan is ''the word of experts''.

Organization

The university covers all major academic fields through its 14 teaching and research departments, institutes and schools: *Teaching and Research Departments **Department of Law and Social Sciences **Department of Economics **Department of Basic and Applied Science **Department of Literature and Languages **Department of Human Sciences and Arts **Department of Sports Sciences **Department of Medicine and Pharmacy *School **Graduate Engineering School - École nationale supérieure d'ingénieurs de Poitiers (ENSIP) *Institutes **Polytechnic of Poitiers (IUT) **Polytechnic of Angoulême (IUT) **IAE University Business School ( IAE Poitiers) **Institute of Communication and New Technologies (ICOMTEC) **General Administration Preparatory Institute (IPAG) **Institute of Industrial, Insurance and Financial Risks (IRIAF)

Research

In the scientific domain, it has these laboratories, where ENSIP is part of: * LIAS: automatics * IC2MP: chemistry and materials * Institut Pprime: physics In the legal domain, th
Center for Studies on International Legal Cooperation
(CECOJI) is a joint research unit (UMR) involving the University of Poitiers and the National Center for Scientific Research (

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,63 ...

Life on campus

Students can play in athletic teams, or just enjoy all the sports proposed. It is also possible to play golf at the north of the campus of Poitiers and sail in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

.Centre golfique des Chalons
University of Poitiers The Bitards are also known as the university's most famous student association.

Notable people

Abderrazak El Albani Abderrazak El Albani is a French-Moroccan sedimentologist, Professor at University of Poitiers at the Hydrasa laboratory (IC2MP - CNRS). He is significant for having discovered the oldest known fossils of multicellular organisms in the 2.1 billion ...

Michel Brunet Michel Brunet may refer to: * Michel Brunet (historian) (1917–1985), Canadian historian * Michel Brunet (paleontologist) Michel Brunet (born April 6, 1940) is a French paleontologist and a professor at the Collège de France. In 2001 Brunet anno ...

John Howard Griffin John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920 – September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about and championed racial equality. He is best known for his 1959 project to temporarily pass as a black man and journey throug ...

* Mostafa Mir-Salim

Points of interest

Jardin botanique universitaire de Poitiers The Jardin botanique universitaire de Poitiers (33 hectares) is a botanical garden and arboretum maintained by the University of Poitiers. It is located at 443 Route du deffend, Mignaloux-Beauvoir, Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France, and open dail ...

Notes and references

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poitiers, University of Public universities in France Universities and colleges in Poitiers 1431 establishments in Europe 1430s establishments in France Educational institutions established in the 15th century