About Us

Jean Monnet University (French: Université Jean Monnet or Université de Saint-Étienne) is a public research university based in Saint-Étienne, France. It is under the Academy of Lyon and belongs to the administrative entity denominated University of Lyon, which gathers different schools in Lyon and Saint-Étienne.

The plan to develop a university at Saint-Etienne was first devised in 1960. On March 27, 1969, the University of Saint-Étienne was officially created. From the outset, in tune with its time, it has set up classic university teaching which allows it to present today almost all of the disciplines and professional fields. The beginning of the 1990s saw in particular the creation of an engineering school and a second IUT, in Roanne in addition to that of Saint-Étienne, as well as numerous professional second and third cycle degrees. Also from the outset, it has focused its efforts on permanent training, in terms of research, original niches in the context of the Rhône-Alpes region.

In 1989, it took the name of Jean Monnet, one of the founders of the European Union. Faithful to the latter, in 2003-2004 it brought its diplomas to European time by adopting the LMD system (license, master, doctorate).

On July 23, 2008, it was one of the twenty pilot universities, chosen by the government, to be autonomous. Thus, the university has been managing her budget herself since 1 January 2009.

Since 2017, a plan to merge this establishment with several others based in Lyon has been under discussion. This merger caused tensions since 2019, the lack of preservation of the Saint-Etienne identity being cited by many stakeholders.