Founded in 1876, the Université Catholique de Lille is France's largest private university, with an enrollment of 25,500. “Catho de Lille” is a comprehensive university that encompasses numerous faculties, schools, and institutes in five clusters:
- Letters, the humanities, and the social sciences
- Education
- Law, economics, and management
- Science and technology
- Health and social work
Each year 40 percent of the master's degrees, in 170 fields, awarded in the North - Pas de Calais region, are granted by the Université Catholique de Lille. The excellence of the university's reputation can be traced to its active teaching methods. Many courses are taught in a small-group format that ensures closer attention to student progress. Known for its neo-Gothic buildings and center-city location, the campus offers a superb quality of life. Students have ready access to a wide array of services—among them libraries, study rooms, Internet access, housing, dining, athletic facilities, and health services. The university has a strong international orientation, maintaining some 400 international cooperative agreements. It is particularly attentive to the needs of international students.