Named after the town of Créteil and the Université Paris-Est-Créteil.
The university was created as Paris-XII by an order of 21 March 1970, after the University of Paris was split up. At first it included the Créteil medical faculty, built in 1969 with the Henri-Mondor hospital, and from 1970 it grew with a multidisciplinary centre in Créteil. Still also called Paris XII, it has its headquarters and main site near the station.