Université Paris-Saclay QS #70

Universite Paris-Saclay is the leading French institution for deeptech entrepreneurship, ranked No 1 by the Bpifrance Observatoire Deeptech (2024), with a mature incubation ecosystem and strong student founder support, though it focuses more on research spinouts than the broadest founder culture of the very top global startup universities.

• Ranked No 1 higher education and research institution for deeptech entrepreneurship by the Bpifrance Observatoire Deeptech in 2024, ahead of Institut Polytechnique de Paris (2nd) and HEC Paris (4th)
• More than 230 deeptech startups created (since 2000) with cumulative investment of over 5 billion euros and combined enterprise value over 20 billion euros
• IncubAlliance Paris-Saclay, a public research incubator accredited since 1999, has helped create more than 500 companies (including 5 listed) and supports around 50 new projects per year
• Pepite PEIPS student entrepreneur network brings together 11 founding-member institutions, 4 associate institutions and 16 business organisations
• Offers entrepreneurship diplomas including the DU Creation et developpement de start-up innovantes, plus the biennial Challenge Startup with the Start in Saclay student association
• Seven IncubAlliance-supported startups were selected for the French Tech 2030 program (2025 cohort)

Universite Paris-Saclay is one of the world's leading research universities, accounting for roughly 13% of all French research across 220 laboratories and 8,100 researchers, with deep ties to CNRS, CEA, Inria and other national bodies, and it ranks as France's top university (Top 20 worldwide in ARWU 2024). It claims 9 Nobel laureates and 11 Fields medals among its community.

• 13% of French national research, conducted across 220 laboratories and 350+ experimental platforms with about 8,100 researchers and academic staff
• 9 Nobel Prize winners and 11 Fields medals associated with the university community
• Alain Aspect won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics (entangled photons, Bell inequalities); Gerard Mourou shared the 2018 Physics Nobel (chirped pulse amplification); Albert Fert won the 2007 Physics Nobel (giant magnetoresistance)
• Affiliated national research organizations include CEA, CNRS, IHES, INRAE, INRIA, INSERM and ONERA
• Ranked first in the world for mathematics by ARWU (Shanghai) in 2022; Top 20 universities overall and France's top university in ARWU 2024
• Strong ERC funding: in 2025, five community scientists won ERC Synergy Grants and eight projects won ERC Starting Grants; example labs include LSCE (Univ. Paris-Saclay/UVSQ/CEA/CNRS) and SPEC condensed matter physics (Univ. Paris-Saclay/CEA/CNRS)

Paris-Saclay hosts genuine star scientists who actually teach, including Nobel physicist Alain Aspect (Augustin Fresnel chair at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School) and Fields Medalist Hugo Duminil-Copin, who has given Master 2 courses there. With multiple Nobel and Fields laureates among its faculty, the teaching presence of top names is strong, though many are emeritus or split time with research institutes (IHES, CNRS).

• Alain Aspect, 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, is Professor (Augustin Fresnel chair) at the Institut d'Optique Graduate School, Universite Paris-Saclay, and authored MOOCs and books on quantum optics
• Hugo Duminil-Copin, 2022 Fields Medal, did his Master's at Paris-Saclay (ex Paris-Sud) and taught a Master 2 class there on planar percolation and Schramm-Loewner Evolution
• Gerard Mourou, 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics (chirped pulse amplification), worked at Paris-Saclay area institutions (ENSTA, Ecole Polytechnique) on high-power lasers
• Isabelle Guyon, machine learning pioneer, became a Chair Professor at Paris-Saclay (now also Director of Research at Google DeepMind)
• Faculty honors cited include 11 Fields Medalists, 4 Abel Prize laureates and 9 Nobel Prize laureates associated with the university
• Albert Fert, 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics (giant magnetoresistance), was a professor at the predecessor Paris-Sud University

Université Paris-Saclay (created 2020 by grouping leading French universities, grandes écoles and research institutes) has an exceptionally strong and diverse alumni and faculty network in science, with multiple Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists; its alumni community has the potential to reach nearly 500,000 members, though billionaire output and global brand recognition are narrower than the very top global universities.

• Nobel laureates in Physics associated with Paris-Saclay include Albert Fert (2007, giant magnetoresistance), Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (1991), Alain Aspect (2022, entangled photons) and Gerard Mourou (2018, chirped pulse amplification)
• Fields Medalists linked to the university include Wendelin Werner (2006), Artur Avila (2014), Ngo Bao Chau and Hugo Duminil-Copin (2022)
• Serge Dassault, late billionaire industrialist and head of Dassault Group, is cited among notable business alumni
• The alumni community has the potential to reach almost 500,000 members, including engineers, business leaders, start-up founders, doctors, pharmacists, researchers and lawyers
• The unified alumni network was launched in 2020 and is open to graduates of all historical constituent institutions, grandes ecoles, faculties, IUTs and Polytech Paris-Saclay

Universite Paris-Saclay is a magnet for world-leading scientific figures, with current faculty including multiple Nobel laureates and Fields Medalists in residence (such as quantum physicist Alain Aspect and mathematician Hugo Duminil-Copin), plus an active alumni conference series bringing in prominent founders and leaders. Its strength is concentrated in elite science and entrepreneurship rather than broad public-intellectual or political celebrity traffic.

• Current faculty cited as including roughly 9 Nobel Prize laureates, 11 Fields Medalists, 4 Abel Prize laureates, and 4 Wolf Prize laureates
• Alain Aspect, in residence as professor and 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for work on quantum entanglement
• Gerard Mourou, professor and 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate (chirped pulse amplification)
• Hugo Duminil-Copin, professor and 2022 Fields Medal laureate
• Bertrand Serlet (ex-Apple senior VP, Fungible co-founder, ex-Microsoft VP) headlined the inaugural Nos belles histoires alumni conference series on December 12, 2023, at Institut Pascal in Orsay
• Notable alumni passing through the wider campus ecosystem include French President Emmanuel Macron (Ecole Polytechnique) and economist Gabriel Zucman

Universite Paris-Saclay sits at the heart of the Plateau de Saclay, one of the world's eight most powerful innovation clusters (the so-called French Silicon Valley), surrounded by elite grandes ecoles, national research bodies, and major corporate R&D centers within walking distance. Extremely dense external ecosystem plus broad internal cross-disciplinary mixing make this a world-leading cross-pollination environment.

• Nearby grandes ecoles on the plateau include Ecole Polytechnique, CentraleSupelec, HEC Paris, AgroParisTech, ENS Paris-Saclay, ENSTA, ENSAE and Institut d'Optique Graduate School, plus the neighboring Institut Polytechnique de Paris
• National research bodies on or adjacent to the campus: CEA Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Inria, INRAE, Inserm and ONERA, alongside cancer institute Gustave Roussy and biocluster Genopole
• Major corporate R&D centers on the plateau include EDF Lab (opened 2016, described as Europe's largest industrial research and training center), TotalEnergies, Thales, Air Liquide, Danone, Horiba and Servier
• The shared Sinclair laboratory (TotalEnergies, EDF, Thales) develops AI for critical systems, and the IPVF photovoltaics institute joins TotalEnergies, EDF, Air Liquide, Horiba, Riber, CNRS and Ecole Polytechnique
• Large-scale shared infrastructure includes the SOLEIL synchrotron (jointly founded by CNRS and CEA, used by about 100 companies) and the Jean Zay supercomputer
• The cluster concentrates over 15 percent of French research, around 45,000 R&D jobs, 65,000 students, 15,000 researchers and roughly 360 laboratories, and hosts about 80 percent of France's quantum researchers

Université Paris-Saclay provides substantial institution-funded support, anchored by its IDEX-financed International Master's Scholarships (10,000 euros per year) and a broad range of IDEX-backed doctoral funding programs across its graduate schools. Support is strongest for international and doctoral talent and academic-excellence selection rather than broad need-based aid, which is largely handled by the national CROUS system.

• International Master's Scholarships: 10,000 euros per year, plus up to 900 to 1,000 euros travel and visa allowance, awarded for 1 or 2 years (M1 or M2), funded by IDEX from the Programme Investissements d'Avenir
• Eligibility for the master's scholarship: foreign nationals under 30, first-time enrollment in France, academic-merit based, deadline 31 March 2026
• ADI (International Doctoral Actions), IDEX-funded doctoral contracts and Cotutelle international joint PhD funding programmes
• UDOPIA PhD Program in Artificial Intelligence: 30+ PhD students on 36-month contracts at a gross monthly salary of at least 1,758 euros, co-financed with the ANR
• Targeted PhD calls including a Disability PhD Program (co-financed by IDEX and the Ministry) and the Stand up for Science UPSaclay PhD call (8 positions)
• Member institutions covered include AgroParisTech, CentraleSupelec, ENS Paris-Saclay, Institut d'Optique (IOGS), UVSQ and Universite Evry Paris-Saclay

As a French public university, Paris-Saclay charges very low regulated tuition, around EUR 170 for a bachelor and EUR 250 to EUR 380 for a master, with non-EU differentiated fees often partially exempted down to domestic levels. The trade-off is the Paris-region setting: living costs in the Gif-sur-Yvette and Orsay area run around EUR 19,000 a year. Near-free tuition keeps it affordable, but the relatively pricey Ile-de-France living cost holds the score in the upper-middle range.

• Tuition: roughly EUR 170 for a bachelor and EUR 250 to EUR 380 for a master at the regulated public rate; non-EU differentiated fees often partially exempted
• Cost of living: about EUR 19,000 per year in the Gif-sur-Yvette and Orsay area of the Paris region
• Combined: tuition is almost negligible, so living cost dominates the total annual outlay
• Paris-region prices keep it from scoring as high as cheap-city public universities

Université Paris-Saclay offers a livable, green campus environment in the Yvette valley with strong infrastructure for student life, including over 80 sports activities, around 40 cultural activities, the MaPS student house, and free university-funded health and psychology services, though it remains a dispersed multi-campus research cluster rather than a single compact student town.

• SUAPS sports service offers over 80 different sports activities, with facilities including a university swimming pool, a horse-riding centre, 2 professional dance studios, tennis courts, and a 300m2 dojo
• Around 40 cultural activities (theatre, dance, music, writing, photography), most offered free of charge
• Paris-Saclay Student House (MaPS), funded by the Ile-de-France Region, serves as a central student life hub on the Bures/Orsay/Gif campus
• Student Health Service (SSE) provides free preventive consultations across all 7 constituent faculties, with a multidisciplinary team including psychologists, a dietician, and a tobacco therapist
• Student housing managed by CROUS of Versailles and Creteil ranges from studios to T3 shared flats, eligible for CAF (housing aid), with the Saclay Gif-sur-Yvette residence located opposite a riverside park
• Dynamic association life with multiple school-level BDEs (e.g. Polytech Paris-Saclay BDE groups 13 clubs covering climbing, dance, programming, sustainability, and a student cafe)

Paris-Saclay performs strongly on employability, placing in the top 50 of the 2025 Global Employability University Ranking & Survey and reportedly around the top 25 worldwide for QS employment outcomes, supported by extensive internship access across its 220 laboratories. Salary-specific data is thin, so the score is anchored mainly on employer-reputation rankings.

• Ranked 50th in the 2025 Global Employability University Ranking & Survey (GEURS), up 15 places from 2024
• GEURS, published by Times Higher Education and Emerging Group, surveyed 13,240 employers across 33 countries
• Founding member CentraleSupelec ranked 20th and ENS Paris-Saclay 72nd in the same GEURS 2025 ranking
• Hosts internships across roughly 220 laboratories, plus administrative departments and a university-linked hospital
• In France, internships longer than two months pay a statutory stipend of about 630 euros per month
• Reported graduate placement rate of around 88%