Paul Cézanne University

Activity

The University of Aix-Marseille III had an established reputation as one of the oldest and most respected academic institutions in France. Many prominent government leaders have studied at the university's Institute of Political Studies (Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence), which is now associated with Aix-Marseille University. Established in 1956, it is one of a network of 9 world-famous IEPs (Instituts d’Etudes Politiques) in France. The IEP is a Grande école in political science and its primary aim is to train senior executives for the public, semi-public, and private sectors. Although the IEP offers a multitude of disciplines, its main focus is on politics, including related subjects such as history, law, economics, languages, international relations, and media studies.

The law school at Paul Cézanne University, which is currently part of Aix-Marseille University, dates back to the university's foundation in 1409. The school had far-reaching influence, since written law, which in France originated in Aix-en-Provence, spread from there, eventually replacing the common law practiced throughout the rest of Northern Gaul. It is one of the largest law schools in France today, and is considered to be one of the nation's leading centres for legal research and teaching. The school is unique among French law schools for the breadth of courses offered and the extent of research undertaken in a wide range of fields. Other than Panthéon-Assas University, the school has attracted the most prestigious law faculty in France. The teaching faculty comprises 155 professors and 172 adjunct lecturers, the latter drawn from private practice, the civil service, the judiciary and other organizations. Much of the legal research at the university is done under the auspices of its many research institutes – there is one in almost every field of law. Research activity is buttressed by a network of libraries. The university library holds an impressive collection of monographs and periodicals, including an important collection of sixteenth century manuscripts. Moreover, the libraries have several specialized rooms dedicated to specific fields of law, in particular in International and European Law and Legal Theory.

The university's Institute of Business Administration (Institut d'Administration des Entreprises), commonly known as IAE Aix-en-Provence, now part of Aix-Marseille University, was the first Graduate School of Management in the French public university system. IAE Aix is "a prestigious, double-accredited institution, with an international approach to business combining both classic and innovative teaching methods", according to The Independent. The school offers graduate level programmes in general management, international management, internal audit of organisations, service management, internal and external communications management, management and information technologies, international financial management and applied marketing. In 2011, the MSc in General Management was ranked 2nd in France along with the MSc in Services Management and Marketing being ranked 3rd and the MSc in Audit and Corporate Governance also being ranked 3rd in the country by SMBG. In 1990, IAE Aix and the École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC) signed an agreement to unite and offer a joint Doctorate Programme, allowing ESSEC professors to teach in the Research Oriented Master programme in Aix-en-Provence. Furthermore, after Research Oriented Master graduation, students can attend the ESSEC Doctorate seminars and have an ESSEC Research Advisor (Directeur de Recherche). In the same way, ESSEC students can enroll in the IAE Aix's Research Oriented Master and Doctorate programmes. In both cases, the members of the thesis juries come from both IAE Aix and ESSEC. The Doctorate title is awarded by Aix-Marseille University.

The total budget volume of the university was equal to 44.93 m €. This amount did not include the civil servant salaries that were directly paid by the Trésor public. There were 1,329 civil servants including 678 faculty members. Their salaries roughly amounted to the initial budget figure to give a total budget of 100 m €. The university was split in 16 sites located in five cities. The overall area occupied by the university was equal to 225,000 square meters.

Organization

There were eight major components in the University of Aix-Marseille III which benefited from financial autonomy:

Faculty of Law and Political Science

Aix-en-Provence, Schuman

Aix-en-Provence, Poncet

Aix-en-Provence, Montperrin

Arles, Espace Van Gogh

Marseille, Space Canebière

Faculty of Applied Economics

Aix-en-Provence, Schuman

Aix-en-Provence, Forbin

Marseille, Canebière

Faculty of Science and Technology

Aix-en-Provence, Montperrin

Marseille, Saint-Jérôme

Marseille, Europôle of Arbois

Institute of Business Administration – IAE Aix

Puyricard, Clos Guiot

Institute of French Studies for Foreign Students

Aix-en-Provence, Cours Gambetta

Institute of Public Management and Territorial Governance

Aix-en-Provence, Gaston de Saporta

Marseille, Liberation

Notable alumni

Jean Aicard – poet, dramatist and novelist

Paul Alexis – novelist, dramatist and journalist

Joseph d'Arbaud – poet

Fanny Ardant – actress, winner of the César Award for Best Actress

Isabelle Arvers – media art curator, critic and author, specializing in video and computer games, web animation, digital cinema, retrogaming, chip tunes and machinima

Ali Bach Hamba – Tunisian lawyer, journalist and politician

Édouard Balladur – Prime Minister of France: 1993–1995; Minister of the Economy, Finance and Privatization of France: 1986–1988

Charles Jean Marie Barbaroux – politician of the Revolutionary period

Victor Barthélemy – political activist

Dominique Bénard – former Deputy Secretary-General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM)

Léon de Berluc-Pérussis – poet and historian

Roland Blum – conservative politician, member of the National Assembly of France and member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)

Philippe Bourguignon – Member of the Board of Directors of eBay, former co-Chief Executive Officer of the World Economic Forum (WEF)

Valérie Boyer – Member of the National Assembly of France

Notable faculty

Sami A. Aldeeb – Head of the Arab and Islamic Law Department at the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, and Director of the Center of Arab and Islamic Law

Renato Balduzzi – Minister of Health of Italy: 2011–present

Boudewijn Bouckaert – Belgian law professor, a member of the Flemish Movement, and a libertarian conservative thinker and politician

Sadok Chaabane – Minister of Justice of Tunisia: 1992–1997; Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia: 1999–2004

Barry E. Friedman – American academic with an expertise in federal courts, working at the intersections of law, politics and history

Bernard Harcourt – Chair of the Political Science Department, professor of political science and the Julius Kreeger Professor of Law at the University of Chicago

Ayşe Işıl Karakaş – Turkish academic, judge of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

Jean-Louis Le Moigne – specialist on systems theory and constructivist epistemology

Leonard Liggio –classical liberal author, research professor of law at George Mason University, and executive vice president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Virginia

John Loughlin – Director of the Von Hügel Institute, and a Senior Fellow and Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge

Ejan Mackaay – Professor of Law at the Université de Montréal

Presidents

1973–1977: Charles Debbasch

1977–1982: Louis Favoreu

1982–1994: Lucien Capella

1994–1999: Christian Louit

1999–2000: Gilbert Peiffer

2000–2005: Jacques Bourdon

2005–2008: Philippe Tchamitchian

2008–2011: Marc Pena