University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines

Founded in 1991, the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ) is a multidisciplinary institution located 15 kilometers west of Paris, in the district of Yvelines, with sites in seven towns: Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Mantes, Rambouillet, Vélizy Villacoublay, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Saclay. UVSQ plays an important role in the economic, social and cultural development of the area which is known for its unique natural and historical heritage as well as its highly dynamic economic activity.

Home to over 17000 students, UVSQ offers a large range of courses at bachelor, master and doctorate level, in different academic fields such as environmental studies, science and technology, engineering, medicine, law, political science, human and social sciences, economics and management.

Most of its 32 laboratories and research units are associated with major French research organisations such as CNRS, CEA, INSERM, Pasteur Institute and INRIA, and are locally and internationally recognized. In the 2022 Shanghai ranking, UVSQ is in the Top 601-700 group, ranked notably 13 in Atmosphere science and 29 in Earth Sciences.

UVSQ is a founding member of the newly created Paris-Saclay University (16^th position in the 2022 Shanghai Ranking), founded as part of an expending research-intensive and business cluster in the southwest of Paris, in a region which shows high continuous economic growth. This world-class excellence university brings together 65.000 students, 9000 researchers, 7 research organisations, 3 universities and 9 engineering and business schools.

As part of its international strategy, UVSQ strongly supports the globalization of its education and research. It is an active member of the regional and European research as well as higher education networks and communities, with multiple effective partnerships worldwide, for students and staff exchanges, international education programs, double diploma, research collaborations, joint projects and PhD students in joint supervision.

UVSQ has been an associate member of the University of the Arctic since 2011. It counts about 80 researchers regularly engaged in polar research. UVSQ founded an interdisciplinary Masters 2 programme in Arctic Studies in 2010. Close to 100 students have graduated from this programme associating environment science, human and social science.

Several research centres at UVSQ are focused on the Arctic: CEARC (Social science), LATMOS (Atmosphere Science and Space Observation), LSCE (Climatology and Environment) as well the the Jean Malaurie Insitute of Arctic Research Monaco-UVSQ (MIARC) directed by Jan Borm, Full Professor at UVSQ and UArctic Chair in Arctic Humanities, supported by the Oceanographic Institute/Prince Albert I of Monaco Foundation.

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