Paris-Saclay was established in 2019 after the merger of four technical grandes écoles, as well as several technological institutes, engineering schools, and research facilities; giving it fifteen constituent colleges with over 48,000 students combined.

[4] With the merger, the French government has explicitly voiced their wish to rival top American technological research institutes, such as the MIT.

After World War II, the rapid growth of nuclear physics and chemistry meant that research needed more and more powerful accelerators, which required large areas.

In 1942, Irène Joliot-Curie even informed the university's rector of the existence of a potential site near Orsay, on the Saclay plateau.

Irène Joliot-Curie proposed the creation of the Orsay Institute of Nuclear Physics, and construction work began in 1955.

The university project was launched following its validation by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research as part of the Campus Plan.

[23] The Campus Paris-Saclay scientific cooperation foundation, chaired at the time by Alain Bravo, was set up to bring together the various academic and scientific establishments, manage the Digiteo and Triangle de la physique advanced research thematic networks (RTRA) and create the community.

[25][26] In 2014, the various members adopted the statutes of the Paris-Saclay University system (ComUE), enabling it to award bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Each member institution will remain independent but share a significant portion of existing and newly invested resources.

This follows a model similar to the one adopted by University of Oxford and Cambridge, where each constituent college keeps its independence while being grouped under a 'university'.

[5] Confronted with disagreements between its members (between the schools and universities, or between their supervisory ministries), the project stagnated, as the Cour des Comptes noted in its report of 8 February 2017, pointing in particular to a lack of housing and transport facilities, as well as a lack of strategic vision, despite the five billion euros planned (committed or envisaged).

It will be hosting nearly 2,000 students and 1,350 teacher-researchers, researchers, technicians and staff from the AgroParisTech Grande École of the Paris-Saclay University.

[43] Since October 2023, the university has been a partner of the French private Grande École IPSA for double degrees in aerospace.

Indeed, the greater presence of qualified external figures on the board of directors, than representatives of teachers, researchers or students, has caused an institutional blockage.

[47] The Paris-Saclay University consists of five faculties in Sciences, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law-Economics-Management, and Sports Sciences; an Engineering school; three technical institutes specialised in scientific and technical subjects in Cachan, Orsay, and Sceaux; and an undergraduate university school.

Once the University of Paris-Saclay is fully integrated, its research centers are expected to achieve a profile similar to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Caltech: The main Paris-Saclay campus, covering 495 acres (200 ha), is centered on the Saclay Plateau and its Quartier de Moulon ("the Urban Campus") in Orsay, around 20 km south of downtown Paris, and extends into the surrounding areas of Gif-sur-Yvette and Palaiseau.

A few meters to the south is the IUT of Sceaux, a professional school of the university which offers bachelor's level programs very focused on practice.