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Inside the Sorbonne
A tour of the world’s second oldest university
Founded in 1150, the University of Paris is often described as the world’s second oldest university still in existence. And with age comes a certain prestige and reverence. For many non-French people, the Sorbonne belongs in a similar category as Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard.
But while I was a student, I certainly didn’t have that impression. For one thing, ‘the Sorbonne’ is not actually a university; instead, it refers to the building in the Latin Quarter with which the University of Paris is associated.
Secondly, the University of Paris is no longer a university — or at least not one in the traditional sense. Following the riots of May 1968, the University of Paris split up into thirteen universities, each one with a unique curriculum and philosophy. The one which I attended, Paris IV, focused primarily on languages and literature while also having access to the Sorbonne itself. A few years ago, ostensibly in a bid to jump up the global university rankings, Paris IV merged with the more science-focused Paris VI to form Sorbonne University.
Thirdly, it’s not even that prestigious — at least locally anyway. The reason is that universities in France just aren’t that prestigious. France’s tertiary education system is unusual in that students, upon…
