Paris University of Sorbonne: history, famous alumni

Among the states of the Old World, only a few can boast of their successful educational system. Not surprisingly, the University of Paris Sorbonne is the pride of France. The centuries-old established traditions of higher education build the birthplace of Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau to the rank of the best countries for training. Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Osip Mandelstam, Marina Tsvetayeva and many other outstanding names glorify the walls of the legendary educational institution.

Paris University is one of the best in Europe

To date, the priority principle of choosing a Parisian university can be called granting free access to the acquisition of knowledge of all students: both local and foreigners.

Undoubtedly, being the most prestigious university in France, the Sorbonne is the place of study for millions of graduates of European schools. In addition, Universite de Paris - a university with a rich history. Starting from the date of foundation, in 1215, its creators already then thought about the fact that the university acquired truly international international dimensions. By the middle of the 13th century, not only the French, but also the Flemish, the Germans and the English were trained in each of the operating faculties (medicine, law, arts and theology).

The history of the university from the very beginning

The University of Paris in the history of its existence has passed several important periods. The educational institution was opened in 1258. By the way, originally the idea of creating a college for poor students belonged to Robert de Sorbonne. The name of the royal spiritual mentor was subsequently appropriated to the university. Recalling some training institute, it was an organization in the walls of which all the teaching staff and students lived, worked and studied. In the near future, the college was reorganized into a theological university faculty, which received the naming of the Sorbonne. Since the beginning of the 17th century, the University of Paris has become the center of philosophy and theology in Europe. He gained fame and fame.

During the same period the Sorbonne was renewed and expanded. Meanwhile, the French Revolution stopped the scientific life in Paris until the 20s of the XIX century. For a long time, one of the leading universities in Europe was in a state of long and deep sleep. However, with the opening of the university again there have been significant changes. After a couple of decades, the cardinal reforms yielded results: the French university has turned into the largest educational center.

Cardinal reforms and structural features of the Sorbonne

The next historic stage in the transformation of the Sorbonne was the events of 1968. Mass student strikes, arising from the riots of the "May Revolution" led to a comprehensive optimization of the education system in the state. As a result, the largest university was divided into separate segments, each of which gave the status of an autonomous institution.

13 Parisian independent universities - this is the new structure of the Sorbonne, which has survived to this day. We should dwell in more detail on all the elements of the main system of French higher education.

The first university in Paris

The Pantheon-Sorbonne. The University of Paris I consists of many faculties of humanities and mathematics. Annually more than 10 000 people graduate from the university in the specialties of various directions:

• history;
• geography;
• economy;
• mathematics;
• philosophy;
• management;
• archeology;
• Tourism, etc.

Here, the network of institutes, engaged in the professional training of specialists in the field of law, insurance, banking and customs, is successfully functioning. If there is a bachelor's degree, the student has the opportunity to enroll at the second year of the master 's program . In the Pantheon, the training takes place in accordance with English-speaking qualification programs, while an in-depth study of the French language is characteristic of any specialties.

Assass, Sorbonne New and Rene Descartes

Pantheon Assas. In the legal education system, this university is the undisputed leader. Over the past few decades, he confidently occupies leadership positions among the specialized legal universities in France.

The new Sorbonne. Relatively modest size and a smaller number of academic buildings do not play a big role in choosing the best linguistic university. At the moment, several 20,000 students want to master several languages in the Sorbonne program. In addition, there is no equal in this university for the quality of training in such humanitarian disciplines as cinematography, theater studies, phonetics, the media, literature, phonetics, and much more.

Paris-Sorbonne. Specialized University of Paris IV on the directions of the clergy and intellectuality. In addition to philosophy, religious studies, sociology and archeology, over 20,000 students study foreign languages, are trained in the school of innovative management and communications, as well as in the Institute of Physical Training and Sports.

Paris-Descartes. The next element of the central system of higher education, which produces medical professionals. The University, named after Rene Descartes, recruits from year to year for various specializations, taking in its walls about 30,000 entrants. All those who indirectly or directly plan to associate their life with medicine are striving here: dentists, specialists in medical law, pharmacists, psychologists, homeopaths, etc. Part of the university is the Paris Museum of Medicine and the Institute of Technology. By the way, the building of the main building Paris-Descartes is the national treasure of the state.

Experiments and research in the Sorbonne

The next three universities in Paris, proudly named "Sorbonne", are, more likely, large research centers. We are talking about the University of Pierre and Maria Curie, the University of Paris VII - Diderot and Vincent - Saint-Denis. Their specializations are exact sciences, medicine, odontology.

Among the Sorbonne economic and legal universities, Paris-Dauphine and Nanterre-la-Défense should be singled out separately. The first is an unconditional and practically unique institution of its own that prepares specialists only in the directions in the economy. Nanterre la Défense is an equally prestigious university in Europe, has a law faculty and is famous for compulsory learning of several foreign languages.

Paris-South. The best choice for entering the specialty associated with the exact sciences. Often receives the title of the best educational institution in France.

Val de Marne. This university is known throughout Europe. He has 7 faculties for training professional administrators, managers and civil servants.

Paris-north. The last, the 13th University in the capital of France. Includes 5 acting faculties that provide training in the humanities, social, economic and natural sciences, and the Galileo Institute.

The University of Paris has a peculiar structure, in which honorary place belongs to higher schools. The diploma of such institutions is highly valued throughout the state. The first schools were establishments created long before the beginning of the French Revolution. At the end of the 18th century, a High School was established, and a little later a school for high-road construction. It is believed that you can get into politics or big business only after having passed these stages of training and becoming a modern successful personality. The highest pedagogical (Ecole Normale) and agronomic school are considered honorific. The institution preparing politicians and government officials - the National School of Administration, is the most prestigious educational institution of this type.

University Library

It is impossible not to say about the Sorbonne library. In 1770, for the first time, she met everyone in her own reading rooms, who were thirsty for knowledge. Since the moment of its opening, the availability of the library has allowed to be regular visitors not only to representatives of students and faculty members, but also to ordinary people who have nothing to do with studying at the Sorbonne. The original fund of the book treasury was a rather impressive number of different volumes - about 20 thousand copies. Regularly replenished list of literature in the library allowed to sum up the positive dynamics - by 1936 on its book shelves were saved about a million volumes.

An interesting fact from the history of the existence of the book depository can be called that during the same period the administration of the institution decided to replace comfortable comfortable chairs in reading rooms with less comfortable wooden benches. This, in their opinion, helped to compensate for the missing space, as every year the number of visitors grew in geometric progression. To date, the Sorbonne's collection of intellectual works is the largest in the world.

Features of the training system in Paris

It is also worthwhile to pay attention to the mechanism for the implementation of educational activities, to which the Sorbonne equals. The university functions according to other rules, which are absolutely not similar to the Russian scheme of training and transition of students to the next qualifying levels. For example, the meaning of the term "higher education" in the French state is interpreted differently. To enter the university, you must have a bachelor's degree in your hands, while in Russia you can reach this level only after 4-5 years at the university. In comparison with the understanding of a Russian student that a bachelor's degree speaks only of incomplete higher education, in France the equivalent of this concept is a licentiate. The so-called diploma of mastery - Maitrise - can be compared with a master's degree in Russia. However, the qualification of the master exists also in France. At the same time, it can be divided into two types: a classical variant of general education and having a professional orientation.

The famous philosophers who graduated from the Sorbonne

Today and for almost a millennium the Sorbonne was of great importance in the system of higher education of the country, Europe and the whole world community. Admitting only the best of the best to their halls and audiences, she gave an excellent start to the creativity and worthy becoming of many talented personalities. Famous graduates of the university confirm the correctness of the educational strategy of the university, being a personal example.

Through the centuries, the outstanding outstanding names have persuaded once again that the Sorbonne is a university worthy of the title "the most prestigious".

Among the representatives of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, we can not help mentioning Aquinas. The creator of the "five confirmations of the existence of the Lord God" is probably the most famous theologian and philosopher of his time. The Sorbonne graduate was an open opponent of the Christian church, which handles the issuance of indulgences.

The internationally known international student exchange program Erasmus Mundus was named after one of the greatest figures of the Renaissance, Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Outstanding figures of art and literature

Gumilev Nikolai Stepanovich - a representative of Russian poetry of the early 20th century. Periods of creativity of the author of hundreds of works coincided with the Silver Age in the Russian Empire. Nikolai Gumilev was the founder of the school of acmeism, which was attended by other Russian poets - graduates of the Sorbonne of Paris (Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva). Among the outstanding French writers who received the diploma of this university, the whole world knows about Honore de Balzac. Having made a significant impact on the birth of the school of realism, Balzac worked in the modern era. His work left an indelible imprint on the literature of the last century as a whole and was reflected in the works of Dostoevsky, Emil Zola, and others.

In modern times, the Sorbonne graduates continue to win the podium of fame and popularity. For example, artists and cinematographers joined their ranks with a whole list of famous names. Andre Breton is a poet and prose writer, one of the first authors to disclose the direction of surrealism. The graduate of the University of Paris is also Jean-Luc Godard. The legendary film director was considered a fairly influential person in the world of cinema in the 60s of last century. Susan Sontag, who also graduated from the Sorbonne, is known in Europe for her efforts to help people with HIV status.

Great scientists - people from the Sorbonne

The University of Paris VI is named in honor of the graduates who turned the idea of people about the exact and natural sciences. Pierre Curie and Maria Sklodowska-Curie graduated with honors from the Sorbonne. Opening the world in 1903, the secret of radioactivity, became the owners of the Nobel Prize in 1903. The couple worked together, and all merits were considered common, but the discoverer of the properties of chemical elements (polonium and radium) is considered to be Maria Sklodowska-Curie.

One of the greatest mathematicians of all time Henri Poincare also graduated from the Sorbonne. He was famous thanks to the authorship of Theory of Relativity and the Poincare Conjecture.

Since the doors of the university are open to students from anywhere in the world, the institution's policy is sympathetic to the difficulties that often arise in the learning process. To get used to a multilevel educational system, students from different countries will be helped by specific centers of orientation and information. In addition, in the shortest possible time to go through the adaptation in France, you can turn to the International Center for Students and Trainees.

The support of students and teachers from the university is obvious: every year in the office of the university establish more than 15 scholarships for graduate students of 80 thousand francs and up to 60 thousand francs to the rest.