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Collège de France

Higher education and research establishment in Paris, France

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
4 min read
Source updated August 31, 2026
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The Collège de France (French pronunciation: [kɔlɛʒ də fʁɑ̃s] ⓘ; formerly known as Collège royal or Collège impérial or Collège des trois langues), founded in 1530 by Francis I of France, is a higher education and research establishment (grand établissement) in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The Collège de France has been considered to be France's most prestigious research establishment. It is an associate member of PSL University.

Research and teaching are closely linked at the Collège de France, whose ambition is to teach "the knowledge that is being built up in all fields of literature, science and the arts".

01Overview

As of 2021, 21 Nobel Prize winners and 9 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with the Collège. It does not grant degrees. Each professor is required to give lectures where attendance is free and open to anyone. Professors, about 50 in number, are chosen by the professors themselves, from a variety of disciplines, in both science and the humanities. The motto of the Collège is Docet Omnia, Latin for "It teaches everything"; its goal is to "teach science in the making" and can be best summed up by Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phrase: "Not acquired truths, but the idea of freely-executed research" which is inscribed in golden letters above the main hall.

The Collège houses research laboratories and an extensive network of specialized research libraries, with collections focusing on chemistry, physics, social sciences, humanities, and history, the latter of which includes rare books.

As of June 2009, over 650 audio podcasts of Collège de France lectures are available on iTunes. Some are also available in English and Chinese. Similarly, the Collège de France's website hosts several videos of classes. The classes are followed by various students, from senior researchers to PhD or master's students, or even undergraduates. Moreover, the "leçons inaugurales" (first lessons) are important events in Paris intellectual and social life and attract a very large public of curious Parisians.

The primary entrance to the Collège de France
The primary entrance to the Collège de France

02History

The Collège was established by King Francis I of France, modeled after the Collegium Trilingue in Louvain, at the urging of Guillaume Budé. Of humanist inspiration, the school was established as an alternative to the Sorbonne to promote such disciplines as Hebrew, Ancient Greek (the first teacher being the celebrated scholar Janus Lascaris) and Mathematics. Initially called "Collège royal", and later "Collège des trois langues" (Latin, ancient Greek and Hebrew), "Collège national", and "Collège impérial", it was named "Collège de France" in 1870. In 2010, it became a founding associate of PSL Research University (a community of Parisian universities).

03Administrators

The courtyard of the Collège de France
The courtyard of the Collège de France

04Faculty

The faculty of the Collège de France currently comprises fifty-two professors, elected by the Professors themselves from among francophone scholars in subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, archaeology, linguistics, oriental studies, philosophy, the social sciences and other fields. Two chairs are reserved for foreign scholars who are invited to give lectures.

05Notable faculty

Notable faculty members include Serge Haroche, awarded with Nobel Prize in Physics in 2012. Notably, eight Fields Medal winners have been affiliated with the College.

Watch videos about Collège de FranceExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Collège de France”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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