The University of Toulouse ranks among the world's leading universities. It  has a history dating back to the 13th century and is among some of the oldest universities in the world. It was officially founded in 1969 by a merger between the faculties of medicine, pharmaceuticals and science. Its wide range of laboratories and high quality training courses in the fields of science, health, sport, technology and engineering have earned it the reputation of being one of the world's leading scientific universities for over 50 years now.