Five future drivers for Dauphine
In an increasingly challenging environment for higher education, Université Paris Dauphine - PSL continues to consolidate its model while preparing for the future. The 2025-2026 annual report looks back at a year filled with new stages in the university's development, furthering its missions in terms of programs, research and knowledge-sharing in public debate.
1. Executive education settles at the heart of La Défense
The 2025-2026 academic year marked a new phase for Dauphine Executive Education, with its business moving into the Tour Europlaza, at the heart of La Défense, Europe's leading business center. Inaugurated in February 2026, the premises boast 2,500 square meters of floor space with 20 classrooms and 440 training spots, sufficient to support nearly 4,200 professionals each year.
This setup helps with the development of a program that already offers 120 programs, in France and abroad, and which is based on the university's academic expertise and on the close ties formed with the socio-economic environment.
2. Support for major transitions
From the green transition to artificial intelligence, Dauphine is continuing to integrate contemporary transformations into its programs and its research. Mandatory courses on 21st century ecological issues, groundbreaking in the world of higher education, were introduced for the first year of the Bachelor's degree in 2020, and are taken each year by all new students. Most of the Master’s programs include courses related to the green transition for sustainable development, and more than a dozen Master’s programs specialize in the green transition or CSR.
AI is part of the same trend: after the first graduating class of the dual Bachelor's Degree in AI and Organizational Sciences, the launch of the AI and Society Master’s Degree, and the International Bachelor of Science in AI at PSL Research University, this year Dauphine has adopted a doctrine on the use of generative AI, along with two guides designed for teachers and students. The aim is to maintain our students' basic analytical capabilities while teaching them the technologies that will help them move forward. In terms of research, AI is now a focus of the seven Dauphine university labs and the university is stepping up its role within PR[AI]RIE–Paris School of AI, with the arrival of three new international AI fellows in the fall of 2026.
3. International development takes a new step forward
2026 confirms the university's international ambitions, driven by the international rankings of PSL Research University - no. 33 in the Shanghai ranking and no. 34 in the QS ranking - , and Dauphine plays a pivotal role in the achievement of its reputation.
In Paris, this momentum led to the opening in fall of 2026 of a third-year Bachelor's degree track entirely in English. It is also driven by the growth of the international campuses: recognition of the Tunis campus by the Society of Actuaries, development of the London campus - with its capacity increasing by one-third at the start of the 2026 academic year, and increasing numbers of international students - and the continued expansion of the recently-opened Dakar campus.
4. An ecosystem of partnerships and entrepreneurship to drive action
Historically close to the socio-economic environment, Dauphine is strengthening its ties with the private sector, but also with public bodies, with new agreements with the Préfecture des Hauts-de-Seine, the Gendarmerie and the École de guerre. The university also relies on the support of 950 companies that paid the apprenticeship tax in 2025. The quality of these relationships has also contributed to the renewal of the EQUIS accreditation for a further five years.
This energy is also feeding entrepreneurship at Dauphine. The House of Entrepreneurship pre-incubated 48 projects in 2025-2026, while the Dauphine Incubator continues to develop, especially in London. Since it was created, 252 start-ups have been supported, with a three-year survival rate of 81%. Dauphine's achievements in terms of innovation have been acknowledged by the Redstone University Startup Index 2025, which recognizes its ongoing efforts to support innovation and entrepreneurship, and it earned the top European spot in the medium-sized universities category (with a budget of 100 to 500 million euros) among more than 358 schools.
5. A university that continues to foster inclusion
Dauphine is continuing to strengthen its equality, diversity and inclusion policies. An agreement with the Unlimited Foundation has brought new momentum to the support program for students in exile. The Equal Opportunity program also continues to expand with new partner organizations and with an action plan in the pipeline to continue to develop it.
Close to 300 students with disabilities were welcomed in 2025, compared with 93 ten years earlier. Lastly, the signing in 2026 of the LGBT+ commitment charter by L'Autre Cercle has bolstered the anti-discrimination policy.
Programs, research, student life, entrepreneurship, international development, campuses, human resources... Driven by the shared efforts of the university, the Dauphine Foundation and Dauphine Alumni, the achievements of the 2025-2026 academic year illustrate the transformations that have taken place as well as Dauphine's ambitions. Learn more in the 2025-2026 annual report.