Collège de France

The Collège de France, formerly known as the Collège royal, is a major French institution of teaching and research, established by François I in 1530. It is located on place Marcelin-Berthelot in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, at the heart of the Latin Quarter.

Research and teaching are closely linked at the Collège de France, whose ambition is to teach "knowledge as it is being formed, across all fields of letters, science and the arts". It offers high-level courses that are free of charge, do not lead to a qualification, and are open to all without any entry conditions or registration. This makes it a unique institution within the French higher education landscape.

Being elected professor at the Collège de France, that is, holding a chair, is one of the highest distinctions in French higher education. The Collège has around fifty chairs, whose subjects change according to the latest developments in scholarship (a chair may, for example, be devoted to literature after previously being devoted to mathematics), and whose holder is elected by their peers on the basis of their previous work rather than their academic titles. These chairs give their holders particular standing in their field, both in France and abroad.

The Collège de France is an associate member of the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres.