Sorbonne University

Sorbonne University in its present form dates from 2018, when the humanities faculty of the old Sorbonne merged with the science and medicine faculty of Pierre and Marie Curie. Mathematics and physics are its strongest fields by research output.

Tuition at a French public university is set nationally and is a fraction of the British or Australian equivalent, though living costs in Paris are not. Many master's programmes are taught in English; most bachelor's programmes are not.

Sorbonne University brings together arts and humanities, sciences and engineering, and medicine, and each faculty runs its own admission process, so there is no single Sorbonne application to prepare.

• Completed Class 12 from a recognised board for undergraduate entry, with strong results in the subjects relevant to the faculty — mathematics and physics carry real weight for the science degrees.
• Most undergraduate teaching is in French, and a recognised French language certificate at the level the faculty specifies is normally required. This is the single biggest practical barrier for Indian applicants and the one to plan for earliest.
• A recognised bachelor's degree for master's entry, with a subject match the faculty assesses against its own curriculum rather than against the degree title.
• English language evidence where a programme is taught in English, which is more common at master's level than at undergraduate level.
• Complete transcripts, certificates, a CV and a motivation letter, with academic references for research-oriented programmes.
• Application through the national platform for international applicants where it applies to your case, which has its own procedure and timetable.

Medicine has its own regulated national entry route and is not open on the same basis as other faculties. Check the current position for international applicants before assuming it is available.

France sets tuition at public universities nationally rather than leaving it to each institution, and that makes the cost structure here fundamentally different from Australia, New Zealand or the UK. Sorbonne University is a public university, so its fees follow the national framework.

• Tuition is set by national regulation, by level of study, and is far lower than at public universities in the UK or Australia. This is the structural fact worth understanding before comparing destinations.
• There is a differentiated rate for non-EU students at public universities, and some institutions exercise a partial or full exemption. Whether and how that applies to your case is decided by the university, so it must be confirmed rather than assumed.
• A separate annual student and campus life contribution is payable alongside tuition, collected nationally rather than by the university.
• Engineering and selected professional or international programmes may sit outside the standard framework, with their own fees set by the school.
• Living in Paris is the dominant cost, and accommodation in central Paris in particular. The tuition saving relative to Australia or the UK is real, but it is partly offset here.
• Proof of sufficient funds is required for the visa, at a level set nationally.

Work from the current national tuition rate for your level and from the university's own statement on the non-EU rate for your year of entry. Ask us to confirm both, and the visa funds requirement, before you apply.

Because tuition at French public universities is set nationally and is comparatively low, funding here is mostly aimed at living costs rather than fees, and the main sources sit outside the university.

• French government scholarship programmes for international students, administered nationally and through the diplomatic network, applied for separately from the university and well in advance.
• Exemption from the differentiated non-EU rate, which the university itself may grant in defined circumstances and which functions as fee support. Ask how it is decided for your faculty.
• Faculty and master's programme awards, particularly in the sciences, including support attached to research-oriented master's programmes in mathematics and physics.
• Doctoral contracts, which fund research students through a salaried contract rather than a student scholarship, arranged with a doctoral school and a supervisor.
• European mobility programmes where a programme is structured across more than one institution.

The national scholarship routes close much earlier than university admissions do, and they are the ones that make the difference in Paris. Start on them first, not last.

Sorbonne University is spread across sites in central Paris rather than gathered on one campus, with the Latin Quarter at its historic centre and the science faculty at the Pierre and Marie Curie site by the Jardin des Plantes.

• The city is the campus. Teaching sites sit inside ordinary Parisian streets, and student life happens in the cafés, libraries and parks around them rather than in an enclosed university precinct.
• The Latin Quarter has been a student district for centuries, and the bookshops, cinemas and cheap eating places around the Sorbonne buildings still function that way.
• A strong tradition in mathematics and physics, with research institutes attached to the science faculty, and a teaching culture that is more formal and lecture-based than Anglophone students expect.
• Student accommodation is administered externally by the national student services body, is much cheaper than the private Paris market, and is allocated by application with limited places. The private alternative in central Paris is expensive and competitive.
• Subsidised student restaurants and cultural access through the national student services system, which materially reduces the daily cost of living in Paris.
• French matters outside the classroom even on an English-taught programme, for administration, housing and everyday life.

Apply for student accommodation the moment the application opens. It is the single thing that decides whether Paris is affordable.