Côte d’Azur University

Université Côte d'Azur is a French experimental university, with a high regional implementation that contribute to the local and national impact on the scientific and research sectors more particularly.

The institution has been created as an experimental university since 2020, replacing both the Université Nice Sophia Antipolis created in 1965, and the Communauté d’Universités et d’Etablissements created in 2015. Currently, Université Côte d’Azur (UniCA) therefore includes 17 major academic establishments around the historic university core to create one of the France’s top 10 research-intensive universities. 

Structured around innovative internal components with increased responsibilities for greater agility, Université Côte d'Azur backs all its training and innovation missions with the excellence of its research. Its strong roots in the Côte d'Azur region makes it one of the driving forces behind its growth model. 

UniCA is also a founding member of the European Ulysseus alliance, home to one of France's four Interdisciplinary Institutes for Artificial Intelligence (3IA), and with major partnerships with leading national research players, Université Côte d'Azur aims to rank among Europe's top universities and consolidate its international dimension.

The 2023 Shanghai Academic Ranking for World Universities also raised Université Côte d’Azur as top 401-500 best universities in the world. At a national level, Université Côte d’Azur is therefore positioning itself as one of the 20^th best French universities. 

UniCA is therefore getting itself noticed for the rapid growth of its capacities, and the commitment of the institution to a more attractive, engaged and open-to-the-world university; which contributes to make it more competitive both on the regional and global levels. 

• Research at Université Côte d’Azur

In 2016, Université Côte d’Azur has been awarded the prestigious French national label of "IDEX" initiative of excellence, positioning it among the 9 French "IDEX" universities with intensive research and strong international influence.

This governmental label recognizes the ability of UniCA to position itself in the global competitive game. A ministerial important funding is therefore regularly granted to support the research sector of UniCA, and to strengthen its innovative and transdisciplinary projects with global impact. 

 In the last few years, Université Côte d’Azur has therefore invested its means in the creation of Academies of Excellence that increase the level of excellency in research, and the development of Structural Programs that develop research and complementary projects and actions in specific fields such as artificial intelligence, environment and risk mitigation, health and well-aging. 

On the national level, Université Côte d’Azur is also one of the 4 Institutions that have been selected by an international jury from the National Research Agency, to be part of a network of Interdisciplinary Institute of Artificial Intelligence. 

It’s a national strategy proposed by the French President (Macron, 2018), to establish France as a global leader in artificial intelligence, with more than 1 Billion Euro support. 

More specifically, the Network is willing:

• To create attractive and prestigious research institutes that will provide significant advances on a global scale;
• To offer high-level scientific training in Artificial intelligence to the researchers, engineers and entrepreneurs of the future,
• To create interdisciplinarity and collaborations between academic research and industrial world (transfer of ideas, scientific applications, technological advances etc).

• Education at Université Côte d’Azur

In total, the academic offer in Université Côte d’Azur is of 300 Degrees, in all the fields: 

• Basic Science & Engineering;
• Social and Environmental Sciences;
• Health Sciences and Ecosystems;
• Life and Health Sciences
• Economics and Management;
• Human Digital Systems;
• Arts & Humanities;
• Law, Political Science and Management 

60 of the offered degrees are international and delivered in English, which is the reason why there is a high number of international students (20% of the students registered in Université Côte d’Azur), and an important number of outgoing mobilities of students to the partner institutions abroad, in all the continents. 

In order to increase the employability of the students, Université Côte d’Azur has also adapted its formations, courses and offers to the needs of the 21st Century, therefore investing for a more digitalized offer: 

• Massive digitalization of some existing programs;
• Increase of virtual mobility and virtual exchange; 
• Open online educational platform ; 
• Open Science development, and 
• Increase of engagement for the development of soft skills, digital skills, entrepreneurial mindset and skills, and adaptability of the program offers, to business needs. 

All these measures have led to a better employability rate of the students with 82% of them employed after their Master degree.

Considering the increasing needs, UniCA is offering more than 560 long and short trainings available to students and life-long-learners who wish to personalize their training and tailor their skills to their career plans. 

A specific institute (Innovation Centre for Entrepreneurship – ICE) of UniCA is also devoted to the training and support of the students, researchers or PhD students that wish to create their own businesses.

• Global Network of Université Côte d’Azur 

Université Côte d’Azur organization can rely on the work of more than 5000 permanent staffs which are qualified in their respective fields, in addition to the temporary staff working with renewable contracts. But more particularly, the University promotes the recruitment of researchers and has indeed increased their recruitment as teacher-researchers, through its active engagement to improve the institution’s practices in terms of recruitment, career support, framework, working conditions and environment (including for those with special needs), ethics and scientific integrity. 

Thanks to this engaged policy, the University has been awarded in 2022, the “Human Resources Strategy for Researchers” (HRS4R) Label: a European label that takes into consideration the commitment of the institution, in applying the principles of the European Charter for Research and Recruitment Code.  

This qualified and engaged staff and research communities contribute to the creation of large global networks with multiple institutions around the world. Europeanisation and Internationalization of the University is one of the bases of the institution’s strategy for 2025. In this sense, several partnerships have been established to reinforce its position and collaboration with actors and institutions in various fields and countries: 

• Bilateral partnerships with Vietnam, India, Chile, Caribbean, Tunisia;
• Plenty collaborations through EU and national funding programs in a diversity of sectors and objectives, with more than 700 project applications since 2016, and an average success rate of more than 27%. 

Besides, Université Côte d’Azur is committed to the creation of international campuses to the promotion of the scientific development, training and innovation in the following campuses: 

• Balkan institute of Science and Innovation in Montenegro
• Da Nang international Institute of Technology in Vietnam
• French-Tunisian university for Africa and the Mediterranean in Tunisia

On the European level, Université Côte d’Azur has for instance, engaged in an ambitious International Alliance, by the creation of the Ulysseus European University with 5 other universities across Europe: 

• Haaga-Helia University (Finland)
• MCI Entrepreneurial School (Austria)
• University of Sevilla (Spain)
• University of Genoa (Italy)
• Technical University of Kosice (Slovakia) Marianna - Frantisek

In total, Ulysseus represents a total of 87 faculties involved, 54 research centers, and 636 patents and trademarks owned. 

Ulysseus aims to develop an excellence-recognized university, that shapes the citizens of the future through an open-to-the-world, person-centered, and entrepreneurial angle.  

To reach these achievements, the University has implemented a tailor-made and ambitious Innovation Ecosystem:

• Ulysseus can first count on the Ulysseus Community: Apart from the 6 Alliance partners, there are a panel of 95 associate partners from NGO & associations; business confederations; public bodies; companies; student association (etc) who actively collaborate with Ulysseus University;
• 6 Innovation Hubs with 6 different thematic of research and development challenges, aligned with the member regions and countries:

  • Aging and Well-Being
  • Energy, Transport, Mobility and Smart Cities
  • Tourism, Arts and Heritage
  •  Digitalization
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Food, Biotechnology and Circular Economy

This Ecosystem, together with the objectives and values followed by the University, make the Ulysseus university, an active, engaged and future cluster of knowledge, innovation, education and social cohesion of the next generations.