University of Lorraine

Overview

The University of Lorraine (UL) is a public university in the northeast of France with campuses in Nancy and Metz. It is a merger of Nancy-Université and Paul Verlaine University – Metz. Created in 2012, the history of Nancy-Université, however, goes back to the 1500s. UL prides itself as being the first campus region in France and being a leading university offering mobility for exchange students under the Erasmus Programme. UL’s vision is to promote knowledge transfer from various disciplines, assist in the economic and social development of the region, and offer training courses that cover all fields of knowledge.

The University of Lorraine offers over 500 courses for undergraduate, graduate, and vocational programs. They also have work-study programs, entrepreneurship programs, virtual training courses, and massive online open courses (MOOCs). Since it is an international university, they also offer international programs taught in English or with multinational or French-German pathways. With the Erasmus Mundus program, the university offers students the opportunity to complete a course in various EU locations. Moreover, over 300 lifelong learning programs are available, which can be taken at a company’s premises or within the UL campus.

The University of Nancy, one of the component organizations under UL, was founded by Charles III, the duke of Lorraine and Charles de Lorraine, a cardinal of the same place. The university was built in the northeast commune of Pont-à-Mousson, but was moved to Nancy in 1768. On the other hand, Paul Verlaine University was founded in 1970. In 2009, the process of merging the two schools started to create a center for research and higher education. It was finalized in 2012 and from then on, the two institutions were known as University of Lorraine.

Notable alumni of UL include Raymond Poincaré, who became the prime minister and later president of France in the 1900s; Nadine Morano, who serves as a member of the European Parliament; and French biologist Jean-Marie Pelt, founder of the European Institute of Ecology.

The University of Lorraine is considered as one of the top public universities in Nancy. Globally, it has achieved rankings within the 600th to 1000th range from different university rankings bodies.

Since 2017, UL has embarked on its ambitious Lorraine Expansion Plan which involves reducing floor space and making energy-efficient buildings for its Metz-Technopôle and Technopôle Henri Poincaré research centers. More recently, they have broadened their academic exchanges and partnerships together with Russia-based ITMO University.