Otherwise, companies in France was looking for graduated students with specialized skills, for jobs in key sectors.
For these two reasons, the French "Conférence des Grandes Écoles" has created the Mastère Spécialisé.
Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle (, Literal translation: "beautiful marsh") was a castle built in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales by King Edward I of England. King Edward built the castle to help him take over North Wales. It was one of several castles built along the North Wales coast.
The castle was started in 1295 and work stopped in 1330. The castle was left unfinished. Small amounts of money were spent in the 1330s and 1400s to maintain (keep up) the castle. However, these payments were stopped. By 1609, the castle was a ruin. In 1642, money was spent on repairs. No more work was done and it became a ruin again. In 1925, Richard Williams-Bulkeley placed Beaumaris Castle in state care. Since then, it has been fixed and maintained. In 1986, the castle was placed on the World Heritage List. Today, Beaumaris is cared for by Cadw. It is open to visitors.
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines is a French public university created in 1991, in the department of Yvelines and since 2002, in Hauts-de-Seine. It is mainly in the cities of Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Mantes-en-Yvelines and Vélizy-Villacoublay and Rambouillet. It has eight campuses.
It has 19,000 students, 752 staff people and 1389 teachers and researchers. 285 teachers outside of the university come each year to give courses.
The subjects taught are the sciences, the social sciences, the political sciences, engineering, technology and medicine. It also has courses about the relationship between economy, ethics, natural environment and sustainable development.
Some Parisian universities had anticipated the decree of the French Ministry of National Education and had relocated part of their activities outside of Paris. In fact, experiencing a significant increase of their numbers, they begin to open new locations to alleviate their main campuses. Thus, an antenna of the Pierre and Marie Curie University is created in Versailles in 1987. Dedicated to Sciences, it joined in the Yvelines the law annex of Nanterre established two years earlier at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
In the mean time, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research program as part of French higher education modernization plan called ""Université 2000"" the creation of new universities.
The Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University is officially created the 22th of July 1991 from these two centers of delocalized of the Pierre and Marie Curie University and Paris West University Nanterre La Défense.
At the end of 1996, the university changes its special status to join the regime of the law of 1984, as well as other French universities. UVSQ elects its instances and its first President, Michel Garnier, at the beginning of 1997. He sets up the final structure (board of directors, scientific council, student life council) which then proceeded to his election. It is then the turn of Dominique Gentile to be at the President of the university, from 1997 to 2002.
This period is marked by a strong evolution of the French higher education and the university took the opportunity to consolidate : creation of the Doctoral colleges and prefiguration of UniverSud Paris.
It is also during this period that of the college of Medicine of the Paris Descartes University is relocated at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, renamed «Paris-Île-de-France-Ouest» (PIFO).
In 2002, the university has a new President. Sylvie Faucheux is nominated. The university starts to delivers Bachelors, Masters and Doctorates in 2004.
The "CFA d'Alembert" is created at Guyancourt in 2006. The year 2007 shows the removal of the "Unité de formation et de recherche médicale Paris Île-de-France Ouest" (PIFO) to Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines and the creation, with Paris-Sud 11 University and "École Normale Supérieure de Cachan", of UniverSud Paris.
2010 is also the year of the reorganization of the humanities and social sciences college of UVSQ. He disappears to make way for four new colleges : "institut des études culturelles" (cultural studies institute), "institut supérieur de management" (management institute), "institut de langues et études internationales" (languages and international studies institute) and social sciences research institute.
The university is entering a phase of expansion. The UVSQ becomes founding member of UniverSud Paris but also of the foundation for scientific cooperation. A partnership with Cergy-Pontoise University is studied in 2011. Thus, the Université du grand ouest parisien is created in February 2012. An political studies institute commons to both universities is also being studied.
Like all the other French universities, UVSQ is managed by a President elected by the Board of directors. He is member of the three councils of the university.
The current President is Alain Bui. He is the sixth person to be the Chairman since the creation of the university. He was elected in 2017, succeeding at Didier Guillemot.
The University has a budget of 166 millions of euros in 2011. In 2010, the University had a budget of 143 millions of euros, which is 13.1% more than the one of 2009.
In 2009-2010, the "Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines" employs 229 non-permanent teachers. The total number of permanent teachers is 464, including 121 university professors, 250 assistants, and 93 secondary school teachers.
A partnership foundation was prepared in autumn 2008 and opened the 13th of May 2010. It has nine founding members which have given a total of 2 million euros for the creation of the foundation.
Called "Mov’eoTec", it relates to transport and sustainable mobility.
According to the French educational law for the legal organization of public universities in France, the "Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines" is divided into several components. There are faculties and « graduate schools and institutes ».
UVSQ has seven faculties.
The science faculty, located at Versailles and Le Chesnay, welcomes courses in biology, universe and earth science, physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science. The social science faculty, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, welcomes courses in economy, geography and social sciences. The law and political science faculty, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, welcomes courses in law and political science with 15 Master's degree, four research centers and a judicial studies institute. The Île-de-France West medical training and research faculty, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, is for the training of doctors and midwives. The institute of languages ​​and international studies, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, is for the development of research and training, use of knowledge in languages​​, cultures and international studies. The institute of cultural studies, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, welcomes the courses in history, literature, English, Spanish. The higher institute of management, located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, welcomes the courses in management, information science, communication and educational science.
UVSQ as a postgraduate school in engineering, called ISTY, created in 1992 and which delivers two Master's degree specialized in computer science or mechatronics, both recognized by "Commission des titres d'ingénieur".
It has also two University Institutes of Technology : one at Velizy and another one at Mantes-en-Yvelines, and also a training center for apprentices (called "CFA d'Alembert"), created in 2006 and located at Guyancourt.
UVSQ has a science of the universe observatory. Located at Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, it is where the natural environment, system science and social science courses are done. The university has a strong reputation in sustainable development.