[1] Its main campus was in the historic École de Chirurgie in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.

The undergraduate program of Paris Descartes is selective, with an acceptance rate of 11%.

The dual master's degree ("Economics and Psychology" and "Cogmaster") in partnership with other important French academic institutions such as Pantheon-Sorbonne University and the École Normale Supérieure emphasizes opportunities offered as far as research is concerned.

In 1994 Alain Ehrenberg founded[3] and co-directed the research group "Psychotropics, Politics, Society" (Centre de recherche Psychotropes, Santé mentale, Société, aka CESAMES).

[4] This is a joint research unit of Paris Descartes and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS - National Centre for Scientific Research),[5] where Ehrenberg is professor of sociology.