Versailles university vice-president wounded in bladed-weapon attack in his office

The attack at the presidency offices

On the evening of 13 November 2026, a vice-president of the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines was attacked with a bladed weapon inside the university's presidency offices. The university said the attack happened early in the evening, and a police source placed it at about 19:45. According to Le Parisien, the victim is a 41-year-old jurist by training who was working in his office when he heard a noise and stepped into the corridor. There he met a hooded person wearing a surgical mask, described as aged between 15 and 30, who rushed at him without a word. The vice-president retreated into his office, wounded in the forehead and hand, and alerted a colleague, who called the emergency services. Officers who arrived searched the area but did not find the attacker, who had fled.

Injuries and medical care

A police source said he was taken to hospital only to receive treatment and that no serious injury had been found. The university's statement, issued on the morning of 14 November, said his life is not in danger and that medical services had taken him in charge. BFMTV reported that his prognosis is not life-threatening, after police sources told the outlet he had been hurt in the head and hand. Le Parisien reported that the vice-president has filed a complaint. The university said it would not release further details at this stage.

Investigation and open questions

The Versailles prosecutor's office opened an in-flagrante investigation for "violence with a weapon", and surveillance footage is being examined. As of BFMTV's report, no suspect had been arrested. Le Parisien reported that no line of inquiry had been prioritised at that stage. University president Loïc Josseran condemned the attack in a statement, saying the motives are not yet known.

“I condemn with the utmost firmness this act of violence, which occurred in a tense university context, whose motives are not yet known and which nothing could justify.”

The motives therefore remain unknown, and the investigation is still determining the exact circumstances of the attack.

Reaction from the higher education minister

Philippe Baptiste, France's minister of higher education and research, reported the attack on X on the evening of 13 November. He wrote that a university official in Ile-de-France had been violently attacked with a bladed weapon in his own office and wounded. He expressed support for the victim, his relatives and his colleagues, and said he placed full trust in the justice system to establish the facts. In the same message he wrote:

“No violence is acceptable. The state stands alongside universities, their governance and their teams.”

The post was published before the university issued its own account on the morning of 14 November. It gave no details on the circumstances of the attack or on the attacker or attackers.