The university has more than 25,000 students in initial or continuing training, in many fields: Health, Medicine and Human Biology - Letters, Languages, Humanities and Societies - Law, Political and social sciences - Communication sciences - Economics and management.

The University Paris-13 was created after the desire of the Rector of the Academy of Paris in the early 1960s, of opening a third faculty of science at Villetaneuse.

The new university was designed by the architects Fainsilber and Anspach, as part of the renovation of the town of Villetaneuse.

The first stage was the construction of the literary and legal center, expected to receive approximately 5000 students.

The first building, completed in October 1970, allowed the first 1500 students in December 1500, of first-year of law, economics and humanities.

The campus made significant investments since 2010 to improve the transport connections, by building a new station known as Gare de Villetaneuse-Université.

The university offers Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees in line with the Bologna Process.