• Universities

Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France was founded in 1964 as the Centre d’Enseignement Superieur Scientifique de Valenciennes, as an offshoot of the University of Lille. It took its current name in 2017. It attained full university status as the University of Valenciennes and Hainault-Cambresis in 1979.It is located in Valenciennes in the North of France.It is spread across four main campuses. The original Mont Houy campus in Valenciennes is large enough to have three stops on the city tramway, which opened in 2013. This second site is located in Tertiales. Annexes were opened at Cambrai in 1982 and Mauberge the following year, and a new campus opened at Mauberge in 2013. Other facilities are the Transalley Technopark, opposite the Mont Houy campus and an audio-visual research centre based at a former coal mine, now a UNESCO Heritage site, at Arenberg.Undergraduate students can study at the faculties of science, technology and health; humanities and law, economics and management. Around 10 per cent of students are international students from outside France.A 2019 report from state assessors HCeres praised it as a university which places the student at the heart of all activities.The university conducts research in transport and mobility, with several significant projects focussed on sustainable transport, and integration with the surrounding region. One of the units at the university, INOPME, has been assisting small and medium-sized enterprises since 2008. Notable university-wide projects have included Afrique 2019, a year-long programme of events, conferences and exhibitions devoted to Francophone Africa.