Research-based education

Back to the Université Paris-Saclay Scientific framework

That is one of the reasons why Université Paris-Saclay puts education at the core of its mission. Each year, 20,000 students and 1,200 PhDs graduate from our institution: they are our most significant and sizable impact on society. These graduates are starting new businesses, reinventing existing companies, and coming up with creative solutions to important societal challenges. Beyond full-time education, thousands of participants engage in life-long learning programmes, with a specific effort placed on areas which are driving contemporary innovation (artificial intelligence, aerospace, hydrogen technologies, etc.).

The density of research on all our campuses enables us to offer research-based learning by default and ensure that the benefits of studying next door to world-class research laboratories. are made available to all students on campus.

Our 18 Graduate Schools and one Institute aim to ensure interaction between education and research. They serve as pillars for academic excellence, underpinning the university’s mission to be a world leader in higher education and research. They offer a diverse range of specialised programmes and courses tailored to the specific needs of each scientific discipline and promote an interdisciplinary approach, facilitating synergies between different domains, and fostering an environment where students and researchers can thrive and innovate. They will also educate students about the best environmentally friendly practices in their disciplines and will spur reasoning about the environmental and societal impacts as well as challenges for ecological transition of their disciplines.

Fostering research-based education, as a foundation for careers in academia and beyond. At Université Paris-Saclay, we ensure that research-based training starts at the undergraduate level. Indeed, a research-based approach to education benefits all students, beyond the fraction who aim for a career in academia, and cultivates qualities which are directly relevant to a wide range of professional pursuits. From the capacity to analyse information critically, to that of formulating and testing hypotheses; from the confidence to go out and explore new territory, to the ease at interacting with people from different backgrounds; from the capacity to formulate a problem to that of feeling at ease with uncertainty and complexity, research-based education is one of the major social contributions of Université Paris-Saclay.

Our approach to teaching through research is not confined to our academic laboratories as it has expanded through close collaboration with the R&D departments of our industrial partners. The researchers from these companies are not mere collaborators; they are integral to our teaching, ensuring that students get a holistic view of both academic and industry research landscapes.

Supporting the development of research-based practices across our course offer. Since research-based education demands more than simply putting a researcher and a student in the same classroom, Université Paris-Saclay supports the development of dedicated teaching and learning approaches adapted to the level of studies, from the undergraduate level onwards, and to the specificities of the disciplines. One of the impulses for this university-broad effort comes for the FAIR project (Former, Apprendre et Innover par la Recherche), which funds initiatives selected by the Graduate Schools to improve research-based education both to scale up successful activities (Junior Congress, Junior Labs, etc.) and to test new pilot programmes.

Creating a reflective space where academic staff can debate and improve their research-based teaching & learning approaches. Our commitment to research-based  education is perhaps best illustrated by our strategic decision to create a transversal Graduate School dedicated to Higher Education and Research. It differs from most other Graduate Schools because it involves the whole academic community. It provides a space where academic staff and graduate students can exchange on their practices and keep track with the latest international developments in terms of research-based teaching and learning.