Since January 1st 2009, three universities located in Strasbourg: Louis Pasteur, Marc Bloch and Robert Schuman have merged to form the new University of Strasbourg. Thus we only provide for this yearâ??s survey compiled data for this new institutionThe University of Strasbourg is now a unique, comprehensive university covering all the fields of higher education. It is also the largest French university: 41058 students (including 20.5% foreign students), 11423 trainees in lifelong education, 4635 permanent staff (including 2477 teaching staff, 1872 technical and administrative staff), associated with 1386 researchers, engineers, technicians and administrative staff of the research organizations (CNRS, Inserm and INRA). Courses are taught in 37 faculties, schools and institutes, and research performed in 86 laboratories and research centers. The University of Strasbourg is strongly research-oriented and nearly 400 doctoral theses are submitted annually. It is also a university in the heart of the city of Strasbourg, located on 4 major sites and several other locations in the region of Alsace, counting more than 110 buildings (600 000 m²) and 80 hectares of land. The University of Strasbourg has also a strong commitment to build an Upper Rhine academic community with the Universities of Basel, Freiburg, Karlsruhe and Mulhouse.