We measure the effects on the local human-capital accumulation of the "New Universities" created as part of the U2000 Plan implemented in France in the early 1990s. Using the syn- thetic control method, we show that, on average, the opening of "new universities" has led to a significant increase in the local share of higher-educated people (not including those in school) by 4 points within 27 years (17% increase from the counterfactual level), though the positive impact seems not automatic and differs across cases. These effects did not occur from a regional displacement effect and imply attraction mechanisms of higher-educated population that go beyond a mere students’ decision to stay in the zone where they went to university. Exploring local implications in terms of employment and demographics, we show that local human capital accumulation in treated areas comes with employment growth and an increase of the young population, plus gains in skilled employment.