Abbes studied at the École Normale Supérieure from 1990 to 1994 and then received his doctorate from Paris-Sud University in 1995 under the supervision of Lucien Szpiro, with the thesis Théorie d'Arakelov et courbes modulaires on Arakelov theory and modular curves. At Paris-Sud, Michel Raynaud was one of his mentors. Abbes received his habilitation in 2003.
