It's france. We invented perfume :) Just like third world countries always keep one or two monuments extra clean and luxurious as a flagship, all universities have one or two brand new building, hosting very few students, to keep a good image. If you want real world images, have a look at this blog ( which shows all universities, but you can find some of paris 8 among them) :
http://universiteenruines.tumblr.com/
And those pictures really don't show the worst things i've seen.
Did you have a look at the older posts ? I found some really bad ones of paris 8, which doesn?t surprise me. I would be shocked to hear that germans accept this level of dirt.
In my very limited experience, German universities are generally the same, just with proper maintenance. There's no luxury there either - it looks old, but not worn down.
Of course, you're right. That's just a joke we have, that people at the french king's court and the king itself used perfume instead of washing, which helped make perfume popular and fashionable.
And those pictures really don't show the worst things i've seen.