Paris, University of, is a government-supported university system in Paris and its suburbs. The university system offers courses in economics, law, liberal arts, science, and many other fields. It consists of a number of universities and other institutions of higher learning.
The University of Paris, one of Europe’s oldest universities, was organized during the 1100’s. It became known as the Sorbonne, which was the name of its most famous college (see Sorbonne). In 1968, the government passed a law to reform higher education. As a result of this law, the university was reorganized in 1970 into 13 units called the University of Paris I, II, III, and so on. Further reorganizations consolidated some of the units, and the numbering of units was partially abandoned. For example, in 2018, Paris-Sorbonne (known as Paris 4) and Pierre and Marie Curie University (known as Paris 6) merged to form a new public university called Sorbonne University (Sorbonne Université in French).
In 2019, the University of Paris Diderot (known as Paris 7) and the University of Paris Descartes (known as Paris 5) merged to form a new public institution known simply as University of Paris (Université de Paris in French). This institution adopted the name Paris City University (Université Paris Cité in French) in 2022.
