Representing residents, livening up campus life, setting up dedicated collective projects… this is the role of the residents’ committees and an enriching experience for making the most out of your stay at the Cité internationale. Every house’s committee, elected at the start of the year, carries out the residents’ initiatives both within the house and on campus. Each committee then choses two representatives who sit on the Residents’ Bureau. The Residents’ Bureau organises numerous events and is also involved in the Fête de la Cité. This weekend of events centred around cultural diversity and sharing is a time to celebrate the cultures of the world.
The Cité internationale is not only a community, it’s a family.
The Cité internationale project, born shortly after WW1, was to participate in the construction of a peaceful world by creating a place where the young people of the world could learn to live together. This project is still relevant and its values of peace and cooperation are at the heart of the Cité internationale’s, and its houses’, missions. Every year 12,000 international students, researchers and artists from 150 nationalities live together on campus and share a daily life that is filled with multicultural meetings and exchanges. This human experience, made up of intercultural and interdisciplinary intersections, makes the Cité internationale an ideas laboratory for thinking about the world of tomorrow.
In every building at the Cité internationale common areas promote meetings and communal living. In 1925 the first house, la Fondation Deutsch de la Meurthe, set the programmatic base for future buildings. It has living spaces, work spaces and sports areas, notably a large communal lounge, kitchens on every floor, reading rooms, music rooms, boxing, fencing and hydrotherapy rooms. Within all houses, communal kitchens have progressively become a place of conviviality for residents within the house or floor. Recently, new spaces have been developed: a foyer where residents can meet, small lounges, study rooms, e-learning rooms, games rooms and TV rooms. All of these areas make the Cité internationale a place of shared values and a unique living place that promotes exchanges and meetings.
Diversity is at the heart of the Cité internationale’s values which has always cultivated excellence but also sharing, tolerance and solidarity. The international students and researchers that live on campus come from different backgrounds and bring different perspectives. This diversity feeds creativity and is a source of exchanges and collective advancements for the world of tomorrow. Within all buildings, everyone is welcomed and valued regardless of their origin, sex, sexual orientation, beliefs, age and despite any handicap.
Discover the people who imagined the Cité internationale at the end of WW1. Public officials and philanthropists they were bearers of an ideal of peace.
The principle of mixing is written in the Cité internationale’s statues. Every house must welcome at least 30% of its residents from a different nationality. Having 15 to 70 different nationalities in every building allows residents to live in a multicultural context and promotes creativity and exchanges.
The openness to the world that characterises the campus exists thanks to a rich cultural programme. More than 1000 cultural events are organised every year: theatre shows, concerts, exhibitions… Organised by the houses , they offer residents a window into new artistic and cultural forms.
The Cité internationale provides social support to international students and researchers to allow them to continue their studies under favourable conditions. Grants, healthcare, equal opportunities etc. If anyone faces difficulties during their stay, the International Social Organisation welcomes and supports them in numerous fields (medical, psychological, financial difficulties, helping victims, family difficulties etc.).
In 2022, a Charter of Values was drawn up and signed by all the houses of the Cité internationale. These values constitute a basis for residents to live together in a spirit of shared humanity while contributing to peace and respecting diversity. These values are present in the reception, organisation and development of intellectual, artistic, cultural and sporting activities by the houses and the residents.
Throughout the pandemic, the Cité internationale’s residents stayed loyal to the values of solidarity that drives them. In the windows, or on social networks, they played music, posed challenges, organised virtual cooking or drawing lessons, online debates, fashion shows and even a writing and storytelling competition on quarantine. There was a creative and united atmosphere on campus.
The Cité internationale is not a university residence “unlike any other”. In the houses everything is done to promote living together and cultural diversity. The Cité internationale also has an exceptional architectural heritage, emblematic of the 20th and 21st centuries, with 43 houses built since 1925. Regional, classical, modern or sustainable, these houses, built by renowned architects, offer a diversity of styles that are unique to Paris. Discover them.
On the strength of its shared values of tolerance and mutual respect, the Cité internationale is committed to fighting against all forms of discrimination, harassment and sexual and gender-based violence. All its actors have been involved to implement a policy of awareness-raising and management of violence.