France's version of Harvard, a future top 10 university?

France is apparently spending £6 billion on creating a new mega-university outside of Paris with the aim of being a top 10 university. It sounds like an interesting idea although I would have preferred they reform the ancient Université de Paris... I'm not convinced that Paris-Saclay is the best choice of name. Would you consider studying there?

Would've preferred University of Paris. I think its such a shame that they ruined the history of so many institutions in 1970... Now even a reformed University of Paris cannot claim to be continuously operating..

France is apparently spending £6 billion on creating a new mega-university outside of Paris with the aim of being a top 10 university. It sounds like an interesting idea although I would have preferred they reform the ancient Université de Paris... I'm not convinced that Paris-Saclay is the best choice of name. Would you consider studying there?

LOL.
They don't have the money and they talk about competing Harvard?
The "giant-silicon-bull****" they're talking about still doesn't have a proper public transport system. The one scheduled will only open in 2025.

It's very French. The elites have been outraged by the wave of international rankings since 2003 that put the French 'elite' institutions so low in the leagues, whilst we had been told for decades that our system was the best of the world. Now they want to place their cherished Grandes Ecoles (HEC and Polytechnique principally) in the top, but - rather than reforming the outdated system of extremely selective prep schools+Grandes Ecoles for them and non-selective unis for the rest - they are just merging these tiny institutions with a university of the south of Paris to get its recognition based on research (the Grandes Ecoles don't do research). However, each school will retain their privileges, including the right to teach in English (French unis can't teach in English; English language students must write their thesis... in French), and to select their students (French unis have to accept everybody).
This is why this mega-merging won't be called 'university'.

I remember that Sarkozy said that French Schools will 'soon be like Cambridge and Harvard'.

Research is done within universities and research bodies such as the CNRS, not in the Grandes Ecoles. This is why they want to merge with the university of Paris XI (which have Nobel and Fields laureates): to be higher in international rankings.

LOL.
They don't have the money and they talk about competing Harvard?
The "giant-silicon-bull****" they're talking about still doesn't have a proper public transport system. The one scheduled will only open in 2025.

It's very French. The elites have been outraged by the wave of international rankings since 2003 that put the French 'elite' institutions so low in the leagues, whilst we had been told for decades that our system was the best of the world. Now they want to place their cherished Grandes Ecoles (HEC and Polytechnique principally) in the top, but - rather than reforming the outdated system of extremely selective prep schools+Grandes Ecoles for them and non-selective unis for the rest - they are just merging these tiny institutions with a university of the south of Paris to get its recognition based on research (the Grandes Ecoles don't do research). However, each school will retain their privileges, including the right to teach in English (French unis can't teach in English; English language students must write their thesis... in French), and to select their students (French unis have to accept everybody).
This is why this mega-merging won't be called 'university'.

I remember that Sarkozy said that French Schools will 'soon be like Cambridge and Harvard'.

So you say, for example, Ecole Polytechnique doesn't have any labs of its own?

You mean that any TSRian with no qualifications can study any degree/masters?

You still need 10/20 at the baccalaureate (equivalent to CCC).

Well, then say that it is open to everybody? It obviously is not. You can only get in with a minimum of a levels.

Paris-Saclay is a semi finished university. It is just a cluster of Grandes Ecoles (Polytechnique, ENS Cachan and HEC) with local university. The French government tends to merge various small niche organisations into a new entity, pooled its facilities and declare it an excellent university without accounting for funding and structure. Each department head still protects his fiefdom (research institute).

To reach international excellence, the new organisation needs top academics (in my subject current impact factor of some profs is still mid tier even at Grandes Ecoles), funding (state and particularly endowment lags behind Harvard), strong students from outside France to diversify its student body (most institutions still rely on domestic grad students from a small pool). Paris-Saclay needs to reach out, structures need to be reorganised for a transformational change. There are a few good post grad courses and I would seriously consider them. Compared to British or Dutch unis, French unis don't reach out to international applicants much. Incidentally, tuition fee at Grandes Ecoles makes studies expensive.

The Chinese are already well represented in QS world ranking and have improved their unis. Add to Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan's top unis. Some of them are higher ranked than most French unis.

PS. I also think French Ecoles are cheaper for international students than British and Dutch universities.

Most French universities are pretty mediocre. Anyone in France who wants to succeed will either go to Sciences-Po or the Grandes Ecoles.