The university is composed of seventeen institutes situated in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), Seine-Saint-Denis, Seine-et-Marne, and in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

Following the division of the second oldest academic institution, the University of Paris, into thirteen autonomous universities, Val de Marne University was created on March 21, 1970 with the mutualization of the Paris-Est Faculty of Law, created in 1967, and the Faculty of Medicine of Créteil.

Further major expansions occurred in 1988, when the Technological centre was created in Sénart and Fontainebleau, and 2005, when the law school was relocated from Saint-Maur to Créteil.

The last institute of International politics studies was created in 2021 in Fontainebleau.

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