Paris-Panthéon-Assas University


The Paris-Panthéon-Assas University, abbreviated as Assas University and commonly known as Assas or Paris 2, is a public research university in Paris, France.
It is considered the direct successor of the Faculty of Law of Paris, the second-oldest faculty of Law in the world, founded in the 12th century. Following the 1970 split of the University of Paris, often referred to as the 'Sorbonne', in the aftermath of the May 68 events, law professors faced decisions regarding the future of their faculty. Out of 108 law professors, 88 elected to sustain the legacy of the Faculty of Law of Paris by establishing a new university dedicated to the study of law. The university is housed within the same two buildings that previously accommodated the Faculty of Law of Paris.
Panthéon-Assas, now an independent university, continues to offer the law courses associated with Sorbonne University, having declined to officially integrate as one of its faculties.
The majority of the 19 centres of Panthéon-Assas are located in the Latin Quarter university campus, with the main buildings on Place du Panthéon and Rue d'Assas, hence its current name. The university is composed of five departments specializing in law, political science, economics, journalism and media studies, and public and private management, and it hosts 24 research centres and five specialized doctoral schools. Every year, the university enrolls approximately 18,000 students, including more than 3,000 international students.

History

The University of Paris, commonly referred to as the 'Sorbonne', was founded in the middle of the 12th century and officially ceased to exist on 31 December 1970, following the student protests of 1968. Following the University of Paris split, the majority of law professors, 88 out of 108, opted to maintain the essence of the Faculty of Law of Paris by reestablishing it as a new university. In pursuit of this ambition, they founded along with professors of economics the 'University of law, economics and social sciences of Paris', and kept in it the same buildings with the same research centers. Panthéon-Assas is considered today as direct inheritor of the Faculty of Law of Paris.
The official name of the university was changed to 'Paris II Panthéon-Assas University' in 1990. The name Panthéon-Assas is a reference to the main addresses of the pre-1968 Faculty of Law of Paris, which are now part of the university; namely, the buildings on Place du Panthéon and Rue d'Assas. The university is also referred to as 'Assas' or 'Paris II,' 'Sorbonne-Assas' and 'Sorbonne Law School'.
After the creation of a new Sorbonne University, to which Panthéon-Assas provides law courses in joint degrees, Sorbonne University wanted to integrate Panthéon-Assas as a faculty of law but Panthéon-Assas preferred to remain an independent university within the Sorbonne system.
In 2022, its official name became Paris-Panthéon-Assas University.

Administration

Panthéon-Assas is governed by an administration council, a scientific council, and a council for studies and university life. Members of these boards serve two-year terms. The president of Panthéon-Assas is elected by members of the administration council, for a four-year tenure; he or she presides over this council. The president is assisted by two vice-presidents and several professors elected within their respective academic departments. Members of the administration council choose the faculty representatives who make up the scientific council.
The university inherited the academic departments from the Faculty of Law of Paris. It currently houses five of them: one for private law and criminal sciences, one for public law and political science, one for Roman law and legal history, one for economics and management, and one for journalism and communication.

Campuses

The university has 18 campuses in Paris, 1 in the city of Melun to the south, and other campuses abroad.

Panthéon Centre

In 1753, Louis XV decided that a new building would be constructed for the Faculty of Law of Paris. Jacques-Germain Soufflot, alumnus of the Faculty who had become the architect of the King designed and supervised the construction. It took place from 1771 to 1773 and the new building opened in 1774.
Nowadays, the administration offices and postgraduate studies are located in it. It is situated at 12 Place du Panthéon. It is registered among the national heritage sites of France.

Assas Centre

History under the Faculty of Law of Paris
The largest campus of Panthéon-Assas is located on Rue d'Assas and receives second-year to four-year law students. It was designed by Charles Lemaresquier, Alain le Normand, and François Carpentier to accommodate the growing number of students at the University of Paris. It was built between 1959 and 1963 on the former grounds of Société Marinoni. At the time of its inauguration, its main lecture theatre was the largest in France, with 1,700 seats.
Renovation and expansion in the 21st century
Centre Assas building, which was going under renovation between 2007 and 2017, has been completely redesigned and now hosts a modern learning center, created by the architect Alain Sarfati.
Cultural events
The Assas building has been hosting concerts of classical music for decades. Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Georg Solti, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Martha Argerich, Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Alfred Brendel, Arthur Rubinstein, Seiji Ozawa, Carlo Maria Giulini, or Samson François, among others, have performed in it. The 28th edition of the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs was held in it in 2017.
The scene at the Cairo airport from OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies was filmed in its entrance hall.

Vaugirard Centre

The campus on the Rue de Vaugirard provides for first-year students. It is located in the chapel wing of the former Jesuit College of the Immaculate Conception, where Charles de Gaulle was a pupil; the chapel itself, dating from the 18th century, was transformed into a lecture hall in the 1980s. The structure is a national heritage site.

Sainte Barbe Centre

The Center of Roman Law and Legal History of Panthéon-Assas, hosting its research centers in legal history, is situated inside the Collège Sainte-Barbe, former school founded in 1460. The school was founded by Pierre Antoine Victor de Lanneau, teacher of religious studies, as a college of the University of Paris. Ignace de Loyola, Gustave Eiffel, Alfred Dreyfus among others were students there.

Melun Campus

The campus in the town of Melun hosts local first-year students. It is located in the old town of Melun, on Saint-Étienne Island, among Roman and Gothic remains. The Institute of Law and Economics of Pantheon-Assas University is located there. An extension is currently under construction.

Abroad

Panthéon-Assas also has campuses in Singapore, Mauritius, and Dubai.

Others

The campus on Rue Charcot receives third-year and master students in economics.

Research

Research centres

The university inherited the research centers from the Faculty of Law of Paris. Originally, the Faculty was not organized around research centers and professors were pursuing their research as part of Faculty in general. Hence, only newly emerging fields of research would have newly created institutes, whereas traditional subjects such as Roman law and legal history, private law in general and public law in general, would not necessarily have ones.
Currently, among the research centers at Panthéon-Assas, there are:
Each research center usually has one or several research or professional Master of Laws programs attached to it.

Libraries

The campuses at Rue d'Assas, Rue de Vaugirard, and Melun host the university libraries, which are open to all the students. The university's research centres, institutes and reading rooms host twenty-two more specialized libraries. The total seating area of the university's libraries spans over 3,500 m2, and the university's collections gather over three hundred thousand volumes together.
The new library at Centre Assas has been designed by the architect Alain Sarfati and has furniture designed by Philippe Starck.
Professors and students also have free access to Cujas Library, which is the largest law library in Europe and to general research and study libraries in Paris, including the Sainte-Geneviève Library or the French National Library.