Seven higher education establishments in the region south of Paris have joined forces to set up a new European university centre.

The universities and ecoles, which include the Pole Universitaire Europeen d'Ile-de-France-Sud and the Versailles Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maitres (IUFM), have a combined student roll of nearly 53,000, with 5,000 teachers and researchers.

The new association has elected the current president of Versailles-Saint Quentin, Dominique Gentile, as its own president, and plans to pool resources in areas such as research, library facilities, communications and international relations.

One of its first projects is to promote the site. It also plans to improve facilities and cultural activities for students, foreign teachers and researchers; develop a coordinated computer network and resource centre; organise research conferences; devise new teaching programmes and coordinate continuing training.

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There are already eight European university centres in France, based in large provincial university towns such as Lille and Nancy-Metz.

The idea of setting up a centre in the southern Ile-de-France was first proposed nearly ten years ago but the plans never got off the ground. Now its time has come, with two new universities at Evry and Versailles and with preparation under way for a new state-region plan with priority for developing research and higher education.

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The establishments included hope that creation of the centre will give them a greater competitive edge internationally, and revitalise research in the region, which they acknowledge has stagnated because of factors such as outdated facilities and decentralisation policies that have transferred some functions to the provinces.