Montpellier 2 University (Université Montpellier 2) was a French university in the '' académie'' of Montpellier. It was one of the three universities formed in 1970 from the original

University of Montpellier The University of Montpellier () is a public university, public research university located in Montpellier, in south-east of France. Established in 1220, the University of Montpellier is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous opera ...

. In January 2015, Montpellier 1 University and Montpellier 2 University merged to form the

History

The creation of the imperial University by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

in 1808 stimulated the formation of a number of

faculties Faculty or faculties may refer to: Academia * Faculty (academic staff), professors, researchers, and teachers of a given university or college (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a large department of a university by field of study (us ...

of Humanities and of Science in the main cities of the French Empire. At that time,

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

had already a long-established medical college and a school of

Pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

, but also a respected Royal Society of Sciences created in 1706. In 1810, a Faculty of Science started with initially seven

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, zoology, botany, and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

. In 1879, the faculty created a research station of marine biology in

Sète Sète (; , ), also historically spelled ''Cette'' (official until 1928) and ''Sette'', is a commune in the Hérault department, in the region of Occitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are called ''Sétois'' (male) and ''Sétoises'' (fem ...

, and, twelve years later, and Institute of

Botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

(which is still part of University Montpellier 2). The Institute of Chemistry, created in the same period, became the Ecole Nationale Supérieure of Chemistry of Montpellier in 1941. In 1964, the faculty left the centre of Montpellier to settle in a 30 hectare campus to the north of the city on which 146 000 m² of buildings for teaching and research were built.

Heritage

The University Montpellier 2 retains the Institute of Botany of Montpellier (created in 1889 by Professor

Charles Flahault Charles Henri Marie Flahault (3 October 18523 February 1935) was a French botanist, among the early pioneers of phytogeography, phytosociology, and forest ecology. The word '' relevé'' for a plant community sample is his invention. Early life an ...

), which is close to the botanical garden of University Montpellier 1. Partly demolished after World War II, most of the buildings date from 1956. The building houses a prestigious

herbarium A herbarium (plural: herbaria) is a collection of preserved plant biological specimen, specimens and associated data used for scientific study. The specimens may be whole plants or plant parts; these will usually be in dried form mounted on a sh ...

, the largest in France after the

national museum of natural history The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

, with approximately 4 million samples and an important collection of botany

vellum Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...

s, and research laboratories in the fields of

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

parasitology Parasitology is the study of parasites, their host (biology), hosts, and the relationship between them. As a List of biology disciplines, biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in questio ...

. The station of marine biology in

has been part of the university since 1879. In addition to these collections, the university's media library brings together its old collections of printed works, manuscripts, and iconography (including, for example, the library of the work of Felix Dunal, bequeathed to the Faculty of Science in 1856). These collections are publicly accessible given a reasonable request. The university is also the seat of the ''Pôle universitaire de Montpellier'' which collectively represents the higher education establishments in the

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...

region.

Overview of University Montpellier 2

Université Montpellier 2 is a research-intensive university where education and research cover most of the Scientific and Technological fields: *

Biodiversity Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...

Ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

, Environment *

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

Agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

and

Health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

Mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Informatics Informatics is the study of computational systems. According to the Association for Computing Machinery, ACM Europe Council and Informatics Europe, informatics is synonymous with computer science and computing as a profession, in which the centra ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

and Systems * Universe, Earth, Water It is partnered with 40 joint research units, 1 observatory and divided into 7 specialised faculties.

Education

The university curriculum follows the LMD system, which divides higher education into 3 diplomas: Licence (Bachelor's degree, 3 years of Higher Education) Master (Master's degree, 2 years after bachelor's degree) Doctorat (PhD, 3 years after master's degree) The university is divided into 7 specialised faculties: *
The Faculty of Science
* The École polytechnique universitaire de Montpellier * 3 University Institutes of Technology (IUT) **
IUT Montpellier-Sète
**
IUT Nîmes
**
IUT Béziers
*
The Montpellier School of Management (IAE)
(belongs to a

Institut d'Administration des Entreprises IAEs network An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

of 31 IAEs throughout France) *
The Faculty of Education
And 6 doctoral schools.

Research

Université Montpellier 2 is composed of about forty research departments in:8 thematic departments *

, Environment *

and

and Systems * Universe, Earth, Water The whole research activity is carried out collaboratively with the leading national research organisations (

CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...

, Inserm INSERM, Institut national de la recherche agronomique INRA, Cirad CIRAD, Ird IRD, Brgm, CEA,

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

Ifremer The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...

Inria The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name French Institute for Research in Comp ...

, Irstea).

Rankings

* 2014 QS world university rankings ** 51 – 100th for the Earth and Marine Sciences field ** 101 – 150th for the Agriculture & Forestry field **385th worldwide * 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities: 201 – 300th worldwide * Times Higher Education under 50 universities: 32nd worldwide * National Taiwan university: 294th worldwide

Notes

{{authority control University of Montpellier Universities and colleges established in 1970 1970 establishments in France Universities and colleges in Montpellier Educational institutions disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in France