Founded in 1969, the new experimental institution was named
Centre Universitaire Expérimental de Vincennes (CUEV) in
Vincennes. In 1971, it gained full university status, thus allowing it to award its own degrees, and renamed
University of Vincennes, then
University of Paris-VIII. Since moving to
Saint-Denis in 1980, the university has become a major teaching and research centre for humanities in the
Île-de-France region.
Foundation On Monday 5th of August 1968, the Dean of the
University of Paris, Raymond Las Vergnas, proposed the creation of a new university to Edgar Faure, the Minister of National Education. Las Vergnas was accompanied by professors Pierre Dommergues, Bernard Cassen and a young female lecturer in English,
Hélène Cixous. Two days later, Cixous sent a telegram to her friend
Jacques Derrida, asking him to be his advisor. Through Derrida, Cixous recruited
Georges Canguilhem and
Roland Barthes, who became official advisors.
Tumultuous years As soon as it opened, the University of Vincennes became the venue for a continuation of 1968, being occupied almost immediately by
student radicals, and being the scene of violent confrontations with the police. One incident, in early 1972, involved a janitors' strike. The radicalized janitors invaded classrooms, accused the professors of being scabs, and demanded solidarity. Meanwhile, there was so much radical leafleting, some university hallways were clogged with ankle-deep crumpled leaflets. It became known for its radical philosophy department, with many faculty considering themselves communist which was at the time headed by
Michel Foucault, who in this stage of his career was at his most militant, on one occasion participating in a student occupation and pelting the police outside the building with projectiles. The most consequential scandal of this department emerged around one of the philosophy professors,
Jacques Lacan's daughter
Judith Miller. The department had its accreditation withdrawn after it was revealed that Miller had handed out course credit to strangers she met on a bus. Miller was subsequently fired by the
French education ministry after saying in a radio interview that the university was a capitalist institution and that she was trying to sabotage it from within.
Recent reforms Since the turmoil in the late 1960s, the University of Vincennes has endorsed a far more mainstream academic life and has brought in new departments, new professors, and national rules to effect this change. In 1980, the university was relocated to the suburb of
Saint-Denis, to the north of Paris. The university's capacity of 24,000 students per year makes "Paris VIII" an important university with internationally recognized departments in
Philosophy,
Political Sciences,
Cinema Arts,
Communication Studies, and
Feminist Studies. In 1992 and 1998, the University of Paris-VIII created two university technical institutes (in French:
IUT), in
Tremblay-en-France and
Montreuil. North Research Building, shared with other universities. In 2008, the university, along with seven other humanities and social sciences institutions, launched a campus project to the north of Paris, with the aim of bringing together on the same site a common research facility in the humanities and social sciences. In 2009, this became the
Condorcet Campus, which opens in 2019. In 2024, the university inaugurated the renovation of Building C, marking the first energy-efficient renovation of a university service building in France using the
Energiesprong method. This initiative aims to make the building fully energy self-sufficient for all its uses, with a 20-year performance guarantee. Following antisemitic remarks amounting to the glorification of terrorism during a meeting held at the university on 15 October 2025, an inspection mission was commissioned by the Minister of Higher Education.A commission made up of senior inspectors will ensure that Paris-VIII University properly implements its recommendations, announced the Minister of Higher Education during a visit to the institution in Saint-Denis on 27 March 2026. ==Academics==