Sorbonne (building)

Inscription over the entrance to the Sorbonne

The name Sorbonne (La Sorbonne) has been used in different senses over the centuries.

It originally referred to the Collège de Sorbonne, founded in 1257 by Robert de Sorbon as one of the colleges of the medieval University of Paris. The college was suppressed during the revolutionary era and finally closed in 1882.

With time the college, although only one of many colleges of the university, came to be the centre of theological studies and Sorbonne was frequently used as a synonym for the Paris Faculty of Theology.

During the latter part of the 19th century, the buildings of the Collège de Sorbonne were re-used for the Faculties of Sciences and Letters. As a result of this, "Sorbonne" became a colloquial term for the entire University of Paris. After the historic university in 1970 was divided into thirteen different universities, three of these successor institutions include Sorbonne in their names: University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne, University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle, and University of Paris IV: Paris-Sorbonne. The thirteen universities still stand under a common rectorate with offices in the Sorbonne.

There is also an enterprise in France near Poitiers called the Ecole Supérieure Robert de Sorbon [1]. It purports to grant university degrees based on work experience following the French VAE (Validation des Acquis de l'Expérience) law. However, it has no legal authority from any recognized government to issue degrees and is widely regarded by academic experts as a diploma mill. [2]

The Sorbonne was famously occupied by students in May 1968. More recently it was occupied on March 10th 2006 by students protesting agains the introduction of the "First Employment Contract" (CPE) in France.

Further reading

• André Tuiler: Histoire de l'Université de Paris et de la Sorbonne ("History of the University of Paris and of the Sorbonne"), in 2 volumes (From the Origins to Richelieu, From Louis XIV to the Crisis of 1968), Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de France, 1997 ;
• Jean-Louis Leutrat: De l'Université aux Universités ("From the University to the Universities"), Paris: Association des Universités de Paris, 1997
• Philippe Rive: La Sorbonne et sa reconstruction ("The Sorbonne and its Reconstruction"), Lyon: La Manufacture, 1987
• Jacques Verger: Histoire des Universités en France ("History of French Universities"), Toulouse: Editions Privat, 1986

External links

• Education Authority of Paris (in French)
• Photos from the occupation of the Sorbonne
• [http:/libcom.org/blog english language coverage of the struggle against the CPE in France, including the occupations and demonstrations around the Sorbonne]