Paris 8 University (), or usually the University of Vincennes in Saint-Denis or Paris 8, is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

in the Greater Paris, France. Once part of the historic

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

, it is now an autonomous public institution. It is based on several campuses, mainly in Saint-Denis, as well as in

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a communes of France, commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis departments of France, department, Île-de-France regions of France, region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. Geography Localisation Aubervilliers is one of th ...

and the north of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on the

Condorcet Campus The Condorcet Paris-Aubervilliers Campus, known as Condorcet Campus, is an inter-university campus of the universities of Paris, located between '' Porte de la Chapelle'' in Paris and '' La Plaine Saint-Denis'' in Aubervilliers and inaugurated in ...

, which it has initiated with nine other universities and public institutions since 2008 and which will be inaugurated in 2019. It is one of the thirteen successors of the University of Paris, and was established shortly before the latter officially ceased to exist on 31 December 1970. It was founded as a direct response to

events of May 1968 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 ...

, as a campus of the

Vincennes Vincennes (; ) is a commune in the Val-de-Marne department in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Vincennes is famous for its castle: the Château de Vincennes. It is next to but does not include the ...

. This response was twofold: it was sympathetic to students' demands for more freedom, but also represented the movement of students out of central Paris, especially the

Latin Quarter The Latin Quarter of Paris (, ) is an urban university campus in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros, t ...

, where the street fighting of 1968 had taken place.

History

Founded in 1969, the new experimental institution was named ''Centre Universitaire Expérimental de Vincennes'' (CUEV) in

. In 1971, it gained full university status, thus allowing it to award its own degrees, and renamed University of Vincennes, then University of Paris-VIII. Since moving to Saint-Denis in 1980, the university has become a major teaching and research centre for humanities in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region.

Foundation

On Monday 5th of August 1968, the Dean of the

, Raymond Las Vergnas, proposed the creation of a new university to Edgar Faure, the Minister of National Education. Las Vergnas was accompanied by professors Pierre Dommergues, Bernard Cassen and a young female lecturer in English,

Hélène Cixous Hélène Cixous (; ; born 5 June 1937) is a French writer, playwright and Literary criticism, literary critic. During her academic career, she was primarily associated with the Centre universitaire de Vincennes (today's University of Paris VIII) ...

. Two days later, Cixous sent a telegram to her friend

Jacques Derrida Jacques Derrida (; ; born Jackie Élie Derrida;Peeters (2013), pp. 12–13. See also 15 July 1930 – 9 October 2004) was a French Algerian philosopher. He developed the philosophy of deconstruction, which he utilized in a number of his texts, ...

, asking him to be his advisor. Through Derrida, Cixous recruited

Georges Canguilhem Georges Canguilhem (; ; 4 June 1904 – 11 September 1995) was a French philosopher and physician who specialized in epistemology and the philosophy of science (in particular, philosophy of biology, biology). Life and work Canguilhem entered t ...

and

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western popu ...

, who became official advisors.

Tumultuous years

As soon as it opened, the University of Vincennes became the venue for a continuation of 1968, being occupied almost immediately by student radicals, and being the scene of violent confrontations with the police. One incident, in early 1972, involved a janitors' strike. The radicalized janitors invaded classrooms, accused the professors of being scabs, and demanded solidarity. Meanwhile, there was so much radical leafleting, some university hallways were clogged with ankle-deep crumpled leaflets. It became known for its radical philosophy department, with many faculty considering themselves communist which was at the time headed by

Michel Foucault Paul-Michel Foucault ( , ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French History of ideas, historian of ideas and Philosophy, philosopher who was also an author, Literary criticism, literary critic, Activism, political activist, and teacher. Fo ...

, who in this stage of his career was at his most militant, on one occasion participating in a student occupation and pelting the police outside the building with projectiles. The most consequential scandal of this department emerged around one of the philosophy professors,

Jacques Lacan Jacques Marie Émile Lacan (, ; ; 13 April 1901 – 9 September 1981) was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Described as "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Sigmund Freud, Freud", Lacan gave The Seminars of Jacques Lacan, year ...

's daughter

Judith Miller Judith Miller (born January 2, 1948) is an American journalist and commentator who is known for writing about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, but her writings were later discov ...

. The department had its accreditation withdrawn after it was revealed that Miller had handed out course credit to strangers she met on a bus. Miller was subsequently fired by the French education ministry after saying in a radio interview that the university was a capitalist institution and that she was trying to sabotage it from within.

Recent reforms

Since the turmoil in the late 1960s, the University of Vincennes has endorsed a far more mainstream academic life and has brought in new departments, new professors, and national rules to effect this change. In 1980, the university was relocated to the suburb of Saint-Denis, to the north of Paris. The university's capacity of 24,000 students per year makes "Paris VIII" an important university with internationally recognized departments in

Philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Political Sciences Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

, Cinema Arts,

Communication Studies Communication studies (or communication science) is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in differ ...

, and

Feminist Studies ''Feminist Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering women's studies that was established in 1972. It is an independent nonprofit publication housed at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. Besides scholarly artic ...

. In 1992 and 1998, the University of Paris-VIII created two university technical institutes (in French: ''IUT''), in

Tremblay-en-France Tremblay-en-France (, ; before 1989: ''Tremblay-lès-Gonesse'',Montreuil Montreuil is a French place name derived from Medieval Latin , "Little Monastery". It most often refers to Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis (aka Montreuil-sous-Bois), a French commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Seine-St-Denis department. It ma ...

. In 2008, the university, along with seven other humanities and social sciences institutions, launched a campus project to the north of Paris, with the aim of bringing together on the same site a common research facility in the humanities and social sciences. In 2009, this became the

, which opens in 2019. In 2024, the university inaugurated the renovation of Building C, marking the first energy-efficient renovation of a university service building in France using the Energiesprong method. This initiative aims to make the building fully energy self-sufficient for all its uses, with a 20-year performance guarantee.

Academics

The university offers over a hundred undergraduate, graduate and diploma courses. It is particularly well known for its political science program as it is the only public university in France to offer this subject at undergraduate level. The University of Paris-VIII also offers some distance-learning opportunities for a select number of subjects such as Law and Psychology.

Affiliations

Paris-VIII is well-connected and has over 250 partnerships with universities around the world. They include the

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, the

Beijing Film Academy Beijing Film Academy (BFA; zh, first=s, s=北京电影学院, labels=no) is a municipal public college in Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing and co-funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government, the National Radio ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, the Free University of Berlin, the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Vienna as well as since 2016 the

University of Rojava Rojava University (, , ), is a university in Qamishli, Syria. The university was founded in July 2016 with curricula for medicine, engineering, sciences, arts, and humanities. Additionally, the university offers programmes for primary school edu ...

. Students are encouraged to spend one or two semesters at a neighbouring institution in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia or Europe in order to develop their language skills and cultural understanding. Alternatively, students also have the possibility to teach French in a high school abroad or to complete an internship.

Notable academics

Philosophy *

Gilles Deleuze Gilles Louis René Deleuze (18 January 1925 – 4 November 1995) was a French philosopher who, from the early 1950s until his death in 1995, wrote on philosophy, literature, film, and fine art. His most popular works were the two volumes o ...

François Chatelet François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis. People with the given name * François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter * François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; 1 ...

Alain Badiou Alain Badiou (; ; born 17 January 1937) is a French philosopher, formerly chair of Philosophy at the École normale supérieure (ENS) and founder of the faculty of Philosophy of the Université de Paris VIII with Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault ...

Daniel Bensaïd Daniel Bensaïd (born Daniel Ben Saïd; 25 March 1946 – 12 January 2010) was a philosopher and a leader of the Trotskyist movement in France. He became a leading figure in the student revolt of 1968, while studying at the Paris Nanterre Univers ...

* Alain Brossat *

Pierre Cassou-Noguès Pierre Cassou-Noguès (born 1971) is a French philosopher and writer. Biography He was admitted at the École Normale Supérieure in 1991. He obtained the agrégation in mathematics in 1995 and wrote his PhD in philosophy under the supervisi ...

Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (; born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examines the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most ...

Félix Guattari Pierre-Félix Guattari ( ; ; 30 March 1930 – 29 August 1992) was a French psychoanalyst, political philosopher, Semiotics, semiotician, social activist, and screenwriter. He co-founded schizoanalysis with Gilles Deleuze, and created ecosophy ...

Sylvain Lazarus Sylvain Lazarus (born 1943) is a French sociologist, anthropologist and political theorist. He has also written under the pseudonym Paul Sandevince. Lazarus is a professor at the Paris 8 University. Life and work Sylvain Lazarus worked out a the ...

Jean-François Lyotard Jean-François Lyotard (; ; 10 August 1924 – 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher, sociologist, and literary theorist. His interdisciplinary discourse spans such topics as epistemology and communication, the human body, modern art and p ...

Antonio Negri Antonio Negri (; ; 1 August 1933 – 16 December 2023) was an Italian political philosopher known as one of the most prominent theorists of autonomism, as well as for his co-authorship of ''Empire (Hardt and Negri book), Empire'' with Michae ...

Jacques Rancière Jacques Rancière (; ; born 10 June 1940) is a French philosopher, Professor of Philosophy at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris VIII: Vincennes—Saint-Denis. After co-authoring ...

René Schérer René Schérer (25 November 1922 – 1 February 2023) was a French philosopher and professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Paris VIII. Biography Schérer was born in Tulle on 25 November 1922. He is the younger brother of filmma ...

Psychoanalysis * Bruce Fink (psychoanalyst) *

Serge Leclaire Serge Leclaire (; born Serge Liebschutz; 6 July 1924 – 8 August 1994) was a French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Initially analyzed by Jacques Lacan, he 'became the first French " Lacanian"'. Subsequently, he developed into 'one of the most re ...

Jacques-Alain Miller Jacques-Alain Miller (; born 14 February 1944) is a psychoanalyst and writer. He is one of the founding members of the École de la Cause freudienne (School of the Freudian Cause) and the World Association of Psychoanalysis which he presided fr ...

François Regnault François Regnault (; born 1938) is a French philosopher, playwright and dramaturg. Also a university instructor and teacher, Regnault was maître de conférences at Paris VIII before his retirement. Among his various writings he is the author ...

* Éric Laurent *

Slavoj Žižek Slavoj Žižek ( ; ; born 21 March 1949) is a Slovenian Marxist philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual. He is the international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, Global Distin ...

Politics and international relations *

Gilbert Achcar Gilbert Achcar (; 5 November 1951) is a Lebanese socialist academic and writer. He is a Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London. His research i ...

* Josué de Castro * Jane Freedman * Meir Masri Economics *

Bernard Maris Bernard Henri Maris (; 23 September 19467 January 2015), also known as "Oncle Bernard", was a French economist, writer and journalist who was also a shareholder in ''Charlie Hebdo'' magazine. He was murdered on 7 January 2015, during the shooti ...

Communication sciences *

Armand Mattelart Armand Mattelart (; born January 8, 1936) is a Belgian sociologist, known as a leftist French scholar. His work deals with media, culture and communication, specially in their historical and international dimensions. Biography After finishin ...

New media *

Pierre Lévy Pierre Lévy (; born 1956) is a Tunisian-born French people, French philosopher, Culture theory, cultural theorist and media scholar who specializes in the understanding of the cultural and cognitive implications of digital technologies and the p ...

Anthropology *

Alain Bertho Alain Bertho is a French anthropologist, professor at thUniversity of Paris 8 His fields of research are urban anthropology, political anthropology, anthropology of globalization and alter-globalization. Works The globalization of riots In his ...

Sociology *

Michael Löwy Michael Löwy (born 6 May 1938) is a French-Brazilian Marxist sociologist and philosopher. He is emeritus research director in social sciences at the CNRS (French National Center of Scientific Research) and lectures at the ''École des hautes ...

Jean-Claude Passeron Jean-Claude Passeron (born 26 November 1930) is a French sociologist and leader of social science studies. As part of a mixed interdisciplinary team involving sociologists, historians, and anthropologists, he led the magazine ''Enquêtes''. Bi ...

Nicos Poulantzas Nicos Poulantzas ( ; 21 September 1936 – 3 October 1979) was a Greek-French Marxist political sociologist and philosopher. In the 1970s, Poulantzas was known, along with Louis Althusser, as a leading structural Marxist; while at first a Leni ...

Henri Laborit Henri Laborit (21 November 1914 – 18 May 1995) was a French surgeon, neurobiologist, writer and philosopher. In 1952, Laborit was instrumental in the development of the drug chlorpromazine, published his findings, and convinced three psychiatri ...

(

behavioral biology Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th century, including Charle ...

systems thinking Systems thinking is a way of making sense of the complexity of the world by looking at it in terms of wholes and relationships rather than by splitting it down into its parts.Anderson, Virginia, & Johnson, Lauren (1997). ''Systems Thinking Ba ...

) Arts *

Maurice Benayoun Maurice Benayoun (aka MoBen or 莫奔) (born 29 March 1957) is a French new-media artist, curator, and theorist based in Paris and Hong Kong. His work employs various media, including video, computer graphics, immersive virtual reality, the ...

Jean-Louis Boissier Jean-Louis is a given name, especially for French males. Notable people named "Jean-Louis" include: * Jean-Louis Alléon-Dulac, French naturalist * Jean-Louis Aubert, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer * Jean-Louis Baribe ...

Christine Brooke-Rose Christine Brooke-Rose (16 January 1923 – 21 March 2012) was a British writer and literary critic, known principally for her experimental novels.Christine Buci-Glucksmann Christine Buci-Glucksmann is a French philosopher and Professor Emeritus from University of Paris VIII specializing in the aesthetics of the Baroque and Japan, and computer art. Her best-known work in English is ''Baroque Reason: The Aesthetics of ...

Edmond Couchot Edmond Couchot (16 August 1932 – 26 December 2020) was a French digital artist and art theoretician who taught at the University Paris VIII. Life and work Couchot was a Doctor of aesthetics in the visual arts. From 1982-2000 he headed the depa ...

Frank Popper Frank Popper (17 April 1918 – 12 July 2020) was a Czech-born French-British historian of art and technology and Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the Science of Art at the University of Paris VIII. He was decorated with the medal of the L� ...

Music *

Daniel Charles Daniel Paul Charles was a French musician, musicologist and philosopher. He was born on 27 November 1935 in Oran (Algeria) and died on 21 August 2008 in Antibes (France). Biography He was a student of Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Conservator ...

Éveline Plicque-Andréani Éveline Plicque-Andréani, née Boudon (January 25, 1929 – October 16, 2018), was a French composer, musicologist and pedagogue, winner of the Prix de Rome for musical composition in 1950. Biography Éveline Plicque-Andréani, born in the 13th ...

Costin Miereanu Costin Miereanu (born 27 February 1943) is a French composer and musicologist of Romanian birth. Biography Miereanu was born in Bucharest in 1943. At the age of eleven, he enrolled in the Bucharest School of Music, where he completed six year ...

Daniel Caux Daniel Caux (21 October 1935 – 12 July 2008) was a French musicologist, essayist, journalist, music critic, radio producer and organizer of musical events. He was a member of the Académie Charles-Cros. Biography After studying plastic arts a ...

Ethnomusicology *

Giovanna Marini Giovanna Marini (born Giovanna Salviucci; 19 January 1937 – 8 May 2024) was an Italian singer, songwriter, researcher and ethnomusicologist. Marini founded the School of Popular Music of Testaccio, and has been called "the voice of Italian fo ...

Info archive on musicaitalia.free.fr
(

DOC DOC, Doc, doc or DoC may refer to: People and characters * Doc, an abbreviation of doctor * Doc (nickname) * Doc (mascot), the Towson University mascot Persons * The D.O.C., American rapper (born 1968) * Doc Gallows (born 1983), ring nam ...

file) Linguistics * Martine Abdallah-Pretceille *

Nicolas Ruwet Nicolas Ruwet (31 December 1932 – 15 November 2001) was a French linguist, literary critic and musical analyst or Belgian birth. He was involved with the development of generative grammar,Maurice Gross Maurice Gross (born 21 July 1934 in Sedan, Ardennes; died 8 December 2001 in Paris) was a French linguistJean-Claude Chevalier,, ''Le Monde'', 12 décembre 2001. and scholar of Romance languages. Beginning in the late 1960s he developed Lexicon-G ...

* Jean Dubois * Richard S. Kayne University presidents * Joseph E. Aoun

Notable alumni

; * Elia, Crown Princess of Albania (born 1983) *

Clémentine Shakembo Kamanga Clémentine Shakembo Kamanga (born 25 January 1950) is a Congolese diplomat and writer. She has served as Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to countries including Germany, Hungary and Poland. Biography Kamanga was born ...

(born 1952), Congolese diplomat and writer

References

External links

Official website (english)

Papers and documents related to Paris VIII University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris VIII, University Paris 8 University Vincennes-Saint-Denis Educational institutions established in 1969 1969 establishments in France Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis Universities descended from the University of Paris