Noteworthy Events and Reforms

Mr. Robert Mallet, chancellor (recteur) of the Academy of Paris, submitted to the Ministry of Education a plan for the creation of universities in the region of Paris. The Council of Ministers approved the design: there are now thirteen universities, seven of which are in Paris itself and four in the suburbs, while the remaining two are the institutions of Dauphine and Vincennes. It appears that none have more than 22,000 students (and several have considerably fewer). These thirteen universities comprise four elements: (a) complete Unités d' Etudes et de Recherches (UER), i.e., study and research departments, existing already since December 1968, and found only within the new universities; (b) UER departments resulting from a new split-off from older UERs which were too large, or indispensable to the running of several universities; (c)new UER departments created along with the new universities; (d)units of instruction. In these units, which were not planned by the Orientation Law and are not as autonomous as the UER departments, are assembled faculty members, professors, and assistants attached to other universities, who provide certain supplementary courses. …