Law, business management and medical fields are taught in the independent campus of Université de Lille II, while literature and social sciences are taught as part of the independent campus of Université de Lille III.

Altogether, the three university in Lille include more than 70,000 students and are the main parts of the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France.

USTL also has secondary locations in the Lille historical city centre, Sallaumines, Tourcoing and Wimereux (Marine station).

University Lille 1 is located on the same Cité Scientifique campus as École nationale supérieure de chimie de Lille and Ecole Centrale de Lille; these independent entities have established a number of joint research laboratories with USTL.

University Lille 1 faculties include In addition to standard science curricula, providing bachelor (licence), master and doctorate degrees, University Lille 1 also includes a number of specialized education and research units run by the university, for undergraduate and graduate students: University Lille 1 has also its own business management school University Lille 1 participates in the European Doctoral College Lille Nord-Pas de Calais, which produces 400 doctorate dissertations per year.