Cambridge University hobnobs with PSL

Cambridge University and Paris-based PSL Research University have signed a partnership agreement to promote academic links between the two institutions for five years. It will give students, faculty and researchers the opportunity to go on exchanges and to develop collaborative research projects.

Cambridge and PSL have committed to strengthen their ties through activities including, but not limited to: research seminars and scoping workshops, short-term visits by faculty, short-term hosting of visiting professors, as well as Masters degrees and summer placements for students.

The agreement will cover all academic disciplines, with an emphasis on the fields of knowledge in which there is evidence of mutual and convergent research interests between Cambridge University and PSL Research University. These fields include, but are not limited to, mathematics, physics, chemistry, life sciences, history and philosophy of science, classics and archaeology.

PSL (Paris Sciences et Lettres, meaning Paris Sciences and Humanities) was born as a result of a strategic alliance between twenty-one French institutions sharing common values and practices. It was founded by five prominent French institutions in April 2010, namely the École Normale Supérieure, the Collège de France, the Paris Observatory, Chimie ParisTech and ESPCI ParisTech, who were joined by institutions such as the Curie Institute and the French Institute of Health and Medical Research. PSL member institutions are united in a common desire to create a unique Research University in order to enhance their profile and so compete with the greatest universities across the world.

Monique Canto-Sperber, president of PSL Research University, said: “This agreement with University of Cambridge marks a significant moment in the growing international collaboration PSL is establishing with prestigious foreign Universities, after the one we signed with University College London in 2012. At PSL, we strongly believe that increasing the sharing of knowledge, skills and experience are essential to support research progress. We are convinced that these partnerships with universities in the Anglo-Saxon world contribute significantly to the promotion of French research at the international level.”