The Centers of the Excellence are hosted by major research universities throughout the United States. The Centers’ mission statement consists in expanding and diversifying cooperation and partnerships between American and French higher-education institutions in supporting joint research programs, student mobility, and visiting faculty exchanges. In hosting seminars, lectures, roundtables, festivals, and debates on France and the Francophone World, the Centers contribute to the development of French and Francophone studies on American campuses, and beyond that, to all forms of scholarship related to the language, culture, history and politics of Francophone countries. Their approach is multidisciplinary and encompasses all social sciences and humanities.

The Centers, by broadening and diversifying the cultural, pedagogical and research offer on France and the Francophone World on campuses, aim at generating more interest from the students––both undergraduate and graduate––in French Studies, but also at reinforcing the institutional visibility of the discipline beyond all centers, departments, or schools which focus on the study of Francophone countries.

Each center counts a critical mass of scholars involved in research projects and didactics touching upon France and the Francophone World. Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, supports the centers through an annual grant and each year fund research projects, cultural events and pedagogical endeavors in the field.