The university is organised into four main faculties, a management school, and a University Institute of Technology. The campus at Bourg-en-Bresse offers the full range of courses.
Faculty of Law The Lyon Law School, was created by decree issued on 29 October
1875, by
Marshal Mac Mahon, was inaugurated by French President
Felix Faure on 1 May 1896. The Faculty of Law of Lyon celebrates 130 years, largest centre for law students from the city of Lyon, it has all the legal training of the first year Degree tray until 8 (or more). The Lyon Law school enjoys a national and international reputation of distinction. In the latest edition of the
Gourman Report (6th ed, 1993), it was ranked 1st among France's provincial universities, and 5th among European universities, behind
Paris,
Oxford,
Cambridge and
Heidelberg. The Law School has always been in touch with foreign legal systems. Before the First World War, the Lyon Law School founded the
Law school of Beirut, in
Lebanon. These two cities, Lyon and Beirut, were both on one of
Silk Roads, which started in
China and ended in Lyon; intellectual, artistic and industrial interests converged. The Institute of Comparative Law was created by Édouard Lambert in 1920, and now bears his name. In 1949 he assisted the jurist Abd El-Razzak El-Sanhuri in writing the
Egyptian Civil Code, which would form the foundation of Egyptian civil law.
Cambodia was also the scene of the development of the Lyon Law School, before the
Vietnam War. Quite frequently, the Dean of the Lyon Law School had previously been or was to become a Dean in
Beirut or
Phnom Penh. The law school is known for research of history of law and family law. It is also famous in the field of Business Law, thanks to its master's degree in Business and
Tax law, coupled with the most famous degree in the field of business Law in France:
DJCE (DJCE stands for "Diplôme de Juriste Conseil en Entreprise" or Corporate Jurist Diploma in English). The Faculty of law also proposes the preparation of master 2 business and financial engineering ranked 7th, Master 2 audiovisual & media law ranked 4th among the best master's degrees by SMBG 2015. The Law faculty also includes the department of
political science :
international relations (
international security,
diplomacy,
francophone studies) propose the preparation of master 2 international relations ranked 5th among the best master's degrees in international security and defense by SMBG ranking 2015. In 2008, it launched its own
LL.M in International and
European Law. The law school offers several joint programs in
business law with
EM Lyon business school, in criminal science with the faculty of medicine of university of Lyon, in security studies with France's National Police College. The faculty organise conferences with
INTERPOL,
France's National Police College (ENSP) and
Handicap International on a regular basis. In 2021/22 there were almost 11,000 students registered in the Faculty of Law accounting for over 40% of students at the university.
Faculty of Philosophy The Faculty of Philosophy offers specialist courses in Ethics, Health philosophy, History of philosophy, Culture & health, Aesthetics, Logic, Political and legal philosophy. The professorial staff of the Faculty of Philosophy of Lyon 3 included
Régis Debray and includes
Mauro Carbone, Jean-Jacques Wunenburger, Jean-Claude Beaune, Jean-Pierre Ginisti, François Guéry, Bruno Pinchard, Bimbenet Etienne, Jean-Joël Duhot. In 2021, it had over 850 students, including 60 doctoral students.
Faculty of Letters and Civilisations The Faculty of Letters and Civilisations complements and collaborates with the
University Lyon 2 and the
ENS de Lyon. The faculty is organised into five departments: Ancient Languages and Literatures, Modern Literature, History, Geography-Planning, and Information-Communication. In 2021/22, there was almost 100 faculty and over 2,700 students registered.
Faculty of Languages The Faculty of Languages provides instruction in two broad areas: Applied Foreign Languages (LEA) and Languages, Letters and Foreign and Regional Civilisations (LLCER). The foreign languages taught include German, English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Sanskrit and Hindi. In 2024, there were approximately 5,000 students registered in the Faculty of Languages.
iaelyon School of Management The
iaelyon School of Management is located in the historical complex of the "Manufacture des Tabacs" in the heart of Lyon. Founded in 1956, it has 7,000 students in 2024 (including 2000 in postgraduate studies), accounting for more almost 30% of the total student population at Lyon 3 University. In addition to the 150 some professors at the IAE, 400 executives from private, external companies contribute to the education. The various courses offered include four bachelor's degrees (Licence), eight professional bachelor's degrees (Licence professionnelles), nine master's degrees (with 40 specializations) and preparatory courses for the chartered accountants examination. The IAE of Lyon is one of the top French institutions for research and training in management. The school is highly internationalized with partnerships with over 150 universities in more than 50 countries.
Institute of Technology The
IUT offers a range of short courses and professional programmes in technology. ==Notable faculty==