University of Franche-Comté

Founded in Dole in 1423, UFC celebrated its 600th anniversary by returning to the town of its birth, arguably righting a historic wrong.

Degrees in packaging and data science will be the first university education offered in Dole since 1691, when Louis XIV responded to the university’s resistance to his troops by moving UFC to Besancon.

IBesancon remains the main centre, accommodating around 80 per cent of a roll of 25,000 students, with smaller groups in Belfort, Montbeliard, Vesoul and Lons-le-Saulnier. UFC is also one of seven partners in the federated University of Burgundy Franch-Comte (UBFC).

More than 58 per cent of UFC students are female. Science, technology and health is the largest of its six faculties, accounting for just under half of the total roll. Of 460 courses, around 100 offer a work-study option. Slightly more than 30 per cent of students receive financial study grants.

Of 1,510 overseas students, nearly two thirds come from Africa – primarily from Morocco, Tunisia and Senegal. But there are notable international partnerships closer to home. The the PILE Interregional Laboratory for Equality is shared with the University of Geneva, fewer than 100 miles away, and a double diploma in applied languages is offered with the University of Trento, in Italy.

Notable alumni include left-wing presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade, and Colette Bourlier, who was awarded a PhD in 2016 at the age of 91.