Harvard and Oxbridge, beware. The University of Paris-Saclay, France’s latest bid for global excellence in higher education, will open its doors to its first full generation of students and researchers on September 2015. Paris-Saclay is no ordinary university: It is a community of 19 higher education institutions, including two universities, ten grandes écoles, and seven national research institutions, all coming together alongside a business hub on the outskirts of Paris. Among the 19 “Founding Members” one finds heavyweights such as the École Polytechnique and the École Normale Supérieure, as well as the university of Paris-Orsay and the HEC business school. Together, these “Paris-Saclay’s strategic location among industry giants such as Siemens, Thalès and Danone will allow the mega-university to establish strong links with industry, encouraging the output of world-class research that can be quickly applied to France’s manufacturing and service sectors. Already, new public-private joint labs are being developed in the fields of information technology and energy efficiency, among others, which will benefit from the support of private and public contributors.