CUEFUniversity Center for French Studies

The center's foundation was based on welcoming families and emigrant workers (from Italy, Portugal, etc.) who had settled and worked in Grenoble. The discovery of white coal ensured the rapid industrialization of the region, and the labor force poured in.

In 1896, the first course enrolment was from a German student. This was followed by many more registrations from anonymous students, some of whom went on to become world-famous personalities.
Examples include Richard von Weizsäcker, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany; and more recently, Masako Owada, Princess of Japan, and Jacqueline Lee Bouvier (Jackie Kennedy), First Lady of the United States of America. January 20, 1961 at November 22, 1963.

But all of them, students both known and unknown, contributed to the constant and steady development of the CUEF. Together, the patronage committee and the university perpetuated their vocation of welcoming and teaching French as a foreign language (FLE).

On January 1, 2012, the CUEF became a joint service of the Université Stendhal-Grenoble 3. It continued to train students of around one hundred nationalities in French culture and language.

On January 1, 2016, when the three Grenoble universities merged, CUEF became a component ofUniversité Grenoble Alpes.