The Cité internationale promotes mobility of young talent from all over the world by ensuring the well-being of the students and researchers it hosts, providing them with optimal and peaceful study conditions and developing open innovation and experimentation. In an environment conducive to exchanges, sharing and getting to know others, the Cité internationale leads the talents of tomorrow to understand that difference is a source of enrichment. Everyone is encouraged to experiment with otherness in a spirit of kindness and respect. Everything is done to enable them to exchange, develop and making sense of the world, by sharing common values of confidence in progress and knowledge, and by participating in debates organised on the major issues of the contemporary world.
The Cité internationale has always been a pioneer in welcoming international students and researchers. It offers accommodation to international students and researchers in an environment conducive to success. In addition to accommodation, all our residents are supported in their mobility by a dedicated service, acc&ss, which helps them by answering their questions about their stay and their administrative procedures. The Cité internationale also supports digital innovations as part of a continuous improvement process of welcoming procedures and services offered. A Residents’ Portal has been launched in 2021.
For 20 years, it has been developing cutting-edge welcoming services, dealing with all issues related to mobility and integration of international students and researchers, whether or not they are residents on campus. With the support of the City of Paris, the Île-de-France Region and all of its partners, it has set itself the ambitious goal of reinventing welcoming procedures in order to better meet the expectations of students and researchers and to develop a genuine “hospitable culture”.
From the outset, the Cité internationale has been designed as a place conducive to academic success and favouring encounters in an open and welcoming environment for students.
Within each house, at least one third of the residents must be of a different nationality from that of the host house. This principle of mixing nationalities encourages living together and exchanges in a totally cosmopolitan setting. It stimulates encounters during shared meals (most rooms do not have independent kitchens to encourage exchanges) or moments of conviviality in the dedicated spaces.
They also have at their disposal a wide range of services for studying, eating, entertaining and getting involved (libraries, auditorium, language centre, theatre, choir, music studios, contemporary art centre, stadiums, swimming pool, tennis court, gym, etc.).
Finally, the residents of the Cité internationale also take part in the organisation of its political, social and cultural life. Each year, residents are elected within their house. Some of them will become resident administrators to represent the interests of their peers and sit on the board of directors of the national foundation.
The Cité internationale is a constant celebration of the spirit with the sole language of living together.
The Cité internationale is a place of intellectual ferment and the 43 houses organise numerous conferences and debates throughout the year in all fields of knowledge. These events are an opportunity to bring in outside personalities from the academic, political and media worlds and to bring the values of the Cité internationale to life.
To promote scientific knowledge, the Cité internationale has created, with the support of the Île-de-France region, a Researchers’ Club, housed at the Fondation Victor Lyon. This is a knowledge exchange and sharing club for all doctoral students, researchers at the beginning of their careers or more experienced researchers who are internationally mobile or established in the Île-de-France region, and is part of the policy of welcoming researchers who are mobile in science. It organises conferences and round tables every year.
At the beginning of each academic year, acc&ss, with the support of the City of Paris and the Île-de-France Region, organises the Welcome desk Paris at the Cité internationale. It allows students and researchers from the Ile-de-France region who are on international mobility to carry out all their administrative procedures at a single point.
The Alfred Kasler Foundation (FnAK) of the Cité internationale, based in Strasbourg, supports and facilitates mobility of international researchers to France. Its expertise is recognised at the highest strategic level, in France and in Europe.
The Cité internationale has a local service dedicated to residents who encounter difficulties during their stay: the Relais Social International (RSI). It welcomes, guides and supports residents with 3 types of assistance: social support, psychological support and a medical unit.
The Cité internationale is not a campus like any other. Everything is done in the houses to promote living together and to understand that difference is a source of enrichment.
Thanks to the mix of nationalities and disciplines within each house, our students live in a cosmopolitan environment every day.
The Cité internationale supports digital innovations as part of a process of continuous improvement of welcoming procedures and services offered. A Residents’ Portal has been launched in 2021.
The Cité internationale promotes solidarity and humanist values by making them known to as many people as possible, by undertaking projects with collaborative values and by encouraging diversity and inclusion.
For present and future generations, the Cité internationale acts for a sustainable world by being at the forefront of the fight against climate change, by participating in raising awareness and by acting for the ecological transition.