The three universities making up the A2U Alliance are multidisciplinary and multipolar. Present in 15 cities, they are located in the heart of their respective territories and contribute to the structuring and economic development of the region. With their catchment areas, they cover 87% of the region and serve 61% of its population.

Created in 1969, the University of Picardy Jules Verne (UPJV) has more than 30,000 students spread over its campuses in Amiens, Beauvais, Creil, Cuffies-Soissons, Laon and Saint-Quentin. The Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale (ULCO), created in 1991 as part of the “Université 2000” plan, has almost 10,000 students (Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Dunkerque and Saint-Omer) and the Université d’Artois (UArtois) has 13,000 students (Arras, Béthune, Douai, Lens and Liévin). These three universities are located in small and medium-sized cities, in the middle of large rural areas (such as the Aisne) or very dense urban and peri-urban areas (such as the Oise or Artois).

The site’s development is a natural part of the Hauts-de-France region, which was formed in 2016 from the former regions of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy, but it is also part of a partnership approach with the other sites in the region, enabling scientific excellence to emerge and strengthening its attractiveness.

The A2U site shares with the other sites in the region, the I-Site Université Lille Nord-Europe (ULNE) and the Université Polytechnique des Hauts-de-France (UPHF), the major concern of the Hauts-de-France region to make higher education and research a decisive lever for the development of this region, particularly through innovation and technology transfer, research, training of doctoral students, development of qualifications and lifelong learning.

The three universities have been major contributors to the definition and implementation of the Schéma Régional de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Innovation (SRESRI), adopted by the regional executive on 23 November 2017 for the period 2017-2021. The SRESRI reflects the clearly stated ambition to make Hauts-de-France the most innovative region in France, “by making intelligence the engine of its growth”, based on three major axes: “a region of excellence that shines and attracts, higher education for the jobs of today and tomorrow, research and innovation for a region that creates value”.