University of French Polynesia:
The Université de la Polynésie Française (University of French Polynesia, UPF) is a French university and the only one in French Polynesia. Located in Tahiti, it is a small university counting around 2,000 students. Native-writer and former minister of Culture Louise Peltzer has been the president of the University since April 2005.
The university goes back to 1987 when the Université Française du Pacifique (French University of the Pacific) was created, with two centres, one in French Polynesia and the other in New Caledonia. In 1997 the decision was made to split the two parts into separate universities, and so it came about that in 1999 the Université de la Polynésie Française and the Université de la Nouvelle Calédonie were formed.
There are about 60 researchers at the university, including physicists Pascal Ortega (lightning studies) and Alessio Guarino (nonlinear physics). In the Human Sciences department, sociologist Laura Schuft deserves to be mentioned for her studies on the integration of mainland French workers in Tahiti.
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