About Us

The university Claude Bernard Lyon 1 consist of faculties of sciences , medicine and pharmacy. Based on its budget and the number of its research laboratories, the university is seen as the principal higher education establishment of the region and figures in top five French universities.

Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (French: Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, UCBL) is one of the three public universities of Lyon, France. It is named after the French physiologist Claude Bernard and specialises in science and technology, medicine, and sports science. It was established in 1971 by the merger of the 'faculté des sciences de Lyon' with the 'faculté de médecine'.

The main administrative, teaching and research facilities are located in Villeurbanne, with other campuses located in Gerland, Rockefeller, and Laennec in the 8th arrondissement of Lyon. Attached to the university are the Hospices Civils de Lyon, including the 'Centre Hospitalier Lyon-Sud', which is the largest teaching hospital in the Rhône-Alpes region and the second-largest in France.

The university has been independent since January 2009. In 2020 it managed an annual budget of over €420 million and had 2857 faculty.

On 17 March 1808, Napoleon I founded the University of France, a national organisation with responsibility for formal education from primary through to university level. This decree created the Academy of Lyon within the University and established the Lyon Faculty of Science. The Lyon Faculty of Medicine was founded on 8 November 1874 and was later merged with the Faculty of Science on 8 December 1970 to create Claude Bernard University