The University of Rennes (French: ''Université de Rennes'') is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

located in

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

Upper Brittany Upper Brittany (; ; Gallo: ''Haùtt-Bertaèyn'') is the eastern part of Brittany, France, which is historically associated with the Gallo language. The name is in counterpoint to Lower Brittany, the western part of the ancient province and presen ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Originally founded in 1460, the university was split into two universities in 1970: Rennes 1 University and

Rennes 2 University Rennes 2 University (UR2; , officially Université Rennes-II Haute-Bretagne) is a public university located in Upper Brittany, France. It is one of the four universities of the Academy of Rennes. The main campus is situated in the northwest of ...

. On 1 January 2023, the Rennes 1 University merged with five

grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

EHESP École des hautes études en santé publique (English: EHESP French School of Public Health), with a campus in both Rennes and Paris is designed to form the next generation of French and international professionals in public health. It is a 'gra ...

École nationale supérieure de chimie de Rennes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, ENS Rennes,

INSA Rennes The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a non-profit, nonpartisan 501(c)(6) professional organization based in Arlington, Virginia for the public and private sector members of the United States Intelligence Community. History ...

and Sciences-Po Rennes to create the new University of Rennes. The

University of Rennes 2 Rennes 2 University (UR2; , officially Université Rennes-II Haute-Bretagne) is a public university located in Upper Brittany, France. It is one of the four universities of the Academy of Rennes. The main campus is situated in the northwest of ...

with other research institutes (

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 ...

INRAE The Institut national de la recherche agronomique (; ; abbr. INRA ) was a French public research institute dedicated to agricultural science. It was founded in 1946 and is a Public Scientific and Technical Research Establishment under the join ...

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 ...

Inserm The (Inserm, ) is the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research. History and organisation Inserm was created in 1964 as a successor to the French National Institute of Health. Inserm is the only public research institution ...

and CHU de Rennes) are associated with the 'UNIR' project. The six establishments will be grouped together in an 'Experimental Public Establishment' (EPE), weighing nearly 7,000 staff and teachers, including a thousand researchers, 156 research laboratories and 60,000 of the 68,000 students in the Breton capital, including 7,000 international students.

History

15th century

Beginnings in Nantes

The Duke's University of Brittany was founded by Bertrand Milon on 4 April 1460, on the initiative of Duke

Francis II of Brittany Francis II ( Breton: ''Frañsez II'', French: ''François II'') (23 June 1433 – 9 September 1488) was Duke of Brittany from 1458 to his death. He was the grandson of John IV, Duke of Brittany. A recurring theme in Francis' life would b ...

, by a papal bull from

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

, given in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. This embodied

Francis II Francis II may refer to: * Francis II, Duke of Brittany (1433–1488) * Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1466–1519), ruler of the Italian city of Mantua * Francis II of France (1544–1560), king of France * Francis II, Duke of Lorraine ...

's wish to assert his independence from the

King of France France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I, king of the Fra ...

, while universities were being opened on the outskirts of the duchy in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

in 1432,

Poitiers Poitiers is a city on the river Clain in west-central France. It is a commune in France, commune, the capital of the Vienne (department), Vienne department and the historical center of Poitou, Poitou Province. In 2021, it had a population of 9 ...

in 1432 and

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

in 1441. Created in the form of a ''

studium generale is the old customary name for a medieval university in medieval Europe. Overview There is no official definition for the term . The term ' first appeared at the beginning of the 13th century out of customary usage, and meant a place where stud ...

'', this university could teach all the traditional disciplines:

Arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

Medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

. The student population between the end of the 15th century and the following two centuries grew to a thousand or even 1,500 students, according to the highest estimates. A first attempt to move the university from

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

took place at the end of the 16th century. King Henry IV sought to punish Nantes, a league town, for its support of the

Duke of Mercœur The Seigneurs and Dukes of Mercœur were a line of powerful lords deriving their name from the estate of Mercœur in Auvergne (province), Auvergne, France. The line became extinct in the 14th century, and passed by inheritance to the Dauphin of Auv ...

. The university was ordered to move to

, a city that had remained loyal to the monarchy, in a letter of patent dated 8 August 1589. However, the institution was not moved due to a lack of funding.

18th century

Transfer to Rennes

At the beginning of the 18th century, the university entered a phase of decline. The city of

was entirely focused on commerce and its elites showed little interest in the university. In 1728, the mayor of Nantes, Gérard Mellier, wrote that the Breton university would be better placed "in Rennes, a land of letters, than in Nantes, where only commerce is breathed". Consequently, the Faculty of Law of Brittany was transferred to Rennes in 1735, where the

Parlement of Rennes The Parlement of Rennes or Parlement of Brittany (, ) was one of the , a court of justice under the French , with its seat at Rennes. The last building to house the Parlement still stands and now houses the Rennes Court of Appeal, the natural succ ...

was established by decision of

King Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached maturity (then defi ...

. The faculties of literature, theology and medicine were retained in Nantes, but the faculty of medicine was in decline. There were subsequently several attempts to transfer the rest of the faculties from Nantes to Rennes, notably in 1778. However, the three faculties in Nantes were opposed to this project, pointing out the poor treatment of the Faculty of Law after its transfer to Rennes.

19th century

In 1806,

Napoleon 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 ...

reorganised the entire French education system by establishing the Imperial University.

then became the head of an academy and as such was endowed with a faculty of law and a faculty of literature. A short-lived faculty of letters was also created in 1810. However, it was closed by the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * Ab ...

by a decree of 31 October 1815. The Faculty of Letters did not reopen until 1839 with the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

, and then had five chairs (French literature, Ancient literature, Foreign literature, History and Philosophy). A faculty of sciences was created one year after the faculty of letters in 1840 and also had five chairs (

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 ...

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 Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

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 ...

Geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

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 ...

). The medical school, created under the Empire, became a secondary school in 1820 and then a full school in 1895. These faculties remained without any institutional link between them until the creation in 1885 of a Council of Faculties. In 1896, the latter took the name of University of Rennes when the faculties were reformed following the application of the law of 10 July 1896. The university was then one of the sixteen universities in France, and the only one in the west apart from Caen and Poitiers.

20th century

Expansion

The post-war period was marked by the development of several structures within the university. In 1945, the merger of the Faculty of Sciences and the Institut polytechnique de l'Ouest (IPO) in Nantes gave rise to the Institut de chimie de l'Université de Rennes. In 1954, the Rennes School of Medicine and Pharmacy became the Faculty of Medicine and became part of the university. The following year, Jane Krier created the Institute of Business Administration of Rennes. Until 1969, the University of Rennes thus comprised four faculties: Law, Humanities, Sciences and Medicine. The University of Rennes also developed elsewhere in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, notably in

, in Brest in 1959, in

Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...

in 1970 and also in

. The decree 61-1519 of 29 December 1961 re-established a university in

from the campuses of the University of Rennes, with effect from 1 January 1962. The Faculty of Letters of Nantes remained an annex of the Faculty of Letters of Rennes until 1964, and the Nantes Law Faculty was an annex of the Rennes Law Faculty until 1967. Campus de Villejean - Rennes

In 1948, the population of the University of Rennes was 5,638 students; in 1949, 5,982 students; in 1958, 9,950 students. The 10,000 student mark was passed in 1959. In 1965, this number was around 19,000 students. After the

Liberation Liberation or liberate may refer to: Film and television * ''Liberation'' (film series), a 1970–1971 series about the Great Patriotic War * "Liberation" (''The Flash''), a TV episode * "Liberation" (''K-9''), an episode Gaming * '' Liberati ...

, new campuses were built in

, imposed by the increase in the number of students, notably the Beaulieu and Villejean campuses.

Split

The events of

May 68 May 68 () was a period of widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest in France that began in May 1968 and became one of the most significant social uprisings in modern European history. Initially sparked by student demonstrations agains ...

in France challenged the old organisation of the university in France and the faculties had to review their organisation. In

, the events affected relations between the different faculties. The large number of students, as well as the refusal of some teachers and students to live together in the same institution, made it necessary to split the University of Rennes into several entities. In 1969, it was divided into two new universities:

University of Rennes 1 The University of Rennes 1 was a public university located in Rennes, France. It was founded in 1970, after splitting of the historic University of Rennes into two universities. On January 1, 2023, the University of Rennes 1 merged with five gra ...

and University of Upper Brittany (Rennes 2). The University of Rennes 1 continued to use the name of the "University of Rennes" until 1984, when it was obliged by ministerial decision to take the name "University of Rennes 1".

21st century

Refoundation

On 1 January 2023, the

merged with five ''

Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

'': École des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (EHESP),

École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

, ENS Rennes,

and Sciences-Po Rennes to create the new University of Rennes. The

with research institutes (

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 ...

and CHU de Rennes) are associated with the project. The six institutions are grouped together in an "''EPE''", a legal status as an 'experimental'

collegiate university A collegiate university is a university where functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the Coll ...

, weighing nearly 7,000 staff and teachers, including about 1,000 researchers, 156 research laboratories, and 60,000 of the 68,000 students in the Breton capital, including 7,000 international students.

Organization

Since 2023, the University of Rennes has been made up of 6 colleges, 5 constituent ''

Grandes Ecoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician *Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...

'' and 9 doctoral schools: Colleges * College of Law, Political Science, Public Administration and Philosophy ** Faculty of Law and Political Science ** Institut de Préparation à l'Administration Générale ** Department of Philosophy * College of Economics and Management ** Faculty of Economics ** Rennes Institute of Management (IGR - IAE Rennes) * Health College ** Faculty of Medicine ** Faculty of Dentistry ** Faculty of Pharmacy * College of Science ** Mathematics Department ** Rennes Observatory of the Sciences of the Universe (Osur) ** Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (SVE) ** Department of Sciences and Properties of Matter (SPM) * Technical College ** Lannion University Technical Institute ** Rennes University Technical Institute ** Saint-Brieuc University Technical Institute ** Saint-Malo University Technical Institute * College of Engineering ** ENSSAT - École Nationale Supérieure des Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie (internal university school) ** ESIR - École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs de Rennes (internal university school) ** ENSCR - École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes (constituent school) ** INSA Rennes - Rennes National Institute of Applied Sciences (constituent school) Constituent schools (''Grandes Écoles'') * École des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique (EHESP) *

* ENS Rennes *

* Sciences-Po Rennes

References

{{Public universities and higher education institutes in France Defunct universities and colleges in France Education in Rennes Universities and colleges established in 1885 1885 establishments in France Educational institutions disestablished in 1969 1969 disestablishments in France