The University of Nantes (french: Université de Nantes) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

located in the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

of Nantes, France. In addition to the several campuses scattered in the city of Nantes, there are two

satellite campus A satellite campus or branch campus or regional campus is a campus of a university or college that is physically at a distance from the original university or college area. This branch campus may be located in a different city, state, or coun ...

es located in Saint-Nazaire and La Roche-sur-Yon. The university ranked between 401-500th in the

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

of 2016. On a national scale and regarding the professional insertion after graduation, the University of Nantes oscillates between 3rd and 40th out of 69 universities depending on the field of studies. Currently, the university is attended by approximately 34,500 students. More than 10% of them are international students coming from 110 countries. Notable alumni include former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Jean-Marc Ayrault Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...

, former Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll, and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

official Clément Nyaletsossi Voule.

History

The current University was founded in 1970 under the terms of the 1968 law which reformed French higher education. This newly established institution replaced the former University of Nantes which had been founded in the early 1960s. This itself was a re-establishment of the original University of Nantes which was established by papal bull in 1460 but was abolished during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

Medieval University

The university of Brittany is found by Bertrand Milon on April 4, 1460, at the initiative of the duke François II of Brittany under the form of a papal bull of the Pope Pie II given to Sienne. This embodies the wish of François II to affirm his independence towards the French king, while near the duchy in Angers in 1432, Poitier in 1432 and Bordeaux in 1441, some universities are created. Found under the structure of a studium generale, this university can teach all traditional disciplines: Arts, Theology, Law and Medecin. The number of students between the end of the 15th century and during the two following centuries reach a thousand or 1500, according to the highest estimates. The first attempt to move the university of Nantes to Rennes takes place at the end of the 16th century. French king, Henry IV wants to punish Nantes, a ligueuse ville pour its support of the duke of Mercoeur. The university receives an order from the king by a letter of August 8, 1589 to move to Rennes, a city remains loyal to the monarchy. The institution is however not moved because of financial issue. A new letter of September 5, 1591 from the king reiterate the order of transfer, but again without application. On April 1598, a last king's letter stabilise the situation by confirming the establishment of the university in Nantes.

Academics

The LMD and ECTS systems

Since 2004, the University has followed the LMD European system that divides the post-secondary education in 3 degrees: the Licence( equivalent of a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

), the

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

and the

Doctorat A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

( PhD). Each course provides credits according to the European Credit Transfer System ( ECTS) developed by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

and a certain number of credits will allow a student to obtain their degree. For instance, the first post-secondary education degree, the Licence, can be obtained with 180 ECTS accumulated within 3 years. A full year gives 60 ECTS while a semester gives 30 ECTS.

List of faculties and schools

* Faculty of Medicine * Faculty of Pharmacy * Faculty of Dentistry * Faculty of Psychology * Faculty of Science and Technology * Faculty of Law and Political Science * Department of History, Art History and Archaeology * Department of Humanities and Languages * Department of Languages - International Language Centre (CIL) * Department of Sociology * Department of Science and Technology of Physical Activities and Sports (STAPS) * Institute of Geography and Regional Planning of Université de Nantes (IGARUN) * Institute of Economics and Management - Institute of Business Administration (IEMN-IBE) * Institute for Research and Education in French as a Foreign Language (IRFFLE) * Institute of Teacher Training (ÉSPÉ) * Institute of Preparation for General Administration (IPAG) * Observatory of Earth and Planetary Sciences (OSUNA) * Institute of Technology of Nantes * Institute of Technology of La Roche-sur-Yon * Institute of Technology of Saint-Nazaire * School of Engineering - École Polytechnique de Nantes

Life on campus

Athletics

The University offers the students to practice more than 50 different sports, whether it is for competitive or recreational purposes. The University also provides adapted training to athlete students and participates in national and international competitions in the following disciplines:

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

French boxing Savate (), also known as boxe française, savate boxing, French boxing or French footfighting, is a French kickboxing combat sport that uses the hands and feet as weapons combining elements of English boxing with graceful kicking techniques. ...

, soccer,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

, and

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

. In 2011, the University was one of the first French universities to create a

quidditch Quidditch is a fictional sport invented by author J.K. Rowling for her fantasy book series ''Harry Potter''. It first appeared in the novel '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (1997). It is a dangerous but popular sport played by wi ...

team.

Residence

Approximately 3,500 places on residence are available each year. These places are distributed by the CROUS on a social status basis taking into account the yearly income of the student's parents or legal representative, the number of siblings remaining under the parents' responsibility and the distance between the University and the student's place of residence. There are two types of residences: * The traditional ones gather 9 m² single bedrooms in a building with common bathrooms and kitchens at each floor. * The renovated ones with individual furnished apartments going from 13 to 18m².

Food locations

The CROUS from Nantes manages the different student restaurants on campus as well as the meals they offer. Most of the restaurants are open for lunch and dinner from Monday to Friday and offer a complete meal at a price regulated on a yearly basis. For the academic year of 2013-2014, the price of a meal was set at €3.30 (''2019-2020'').

In Nantes

* La Chantrerie * La Lombarderie * Le Grill CHANZY * Le Restaurant Oniris Chantrerie * Le Restaurant Universitaire de la Fleuriaye * Le Ricordeau * Le Rubis * Le Tertre

In Saint-Nazaire

* Heinlex * Gavy

In La Roche-sur-Yon

* La Courtaisière

International exchanges

The University currently has partnerships with 397 institutions in 60 different countries worldwide. The majority of these partnerships are located in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Each year, more than 1,000 students go abroad to study in one of those partner institutions for one or two semesters. The university receives each year students from its partner universities in exchange for welcoming the students from Nantes. The existing partnerships are ruled according to different international conventions such

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

(Europe), ISEP and CREPUQ (

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or university study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, but d ...

s are still registered in the University of Nantes and transfer the credits they gained in their host university. Conversely, the international students who came on exchange in Nantes will receive their credits in their home university. There were 4,210 international students registered in the University of Nantes for the year 2018.

Notable faculty

* François Bonamy (1710-1786 in Nantes) - botanist and physician; regent to the medical faculty, procureur général, academic rector * Gaston Bouatchidzé (1935, Georgia – 2022) - Georgian-French writer and translator. * Pascal Salin (born 1939) - economist * Denis Moreau (born 1967) - philosopher

Notable alumni

René Laennec René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec (; 17 February 1781 – 13 August 1826) was a French physician and musician. His skill at carving his own wooden flutes led him to invent the stethoscope in 1816, while working at the Hôpital Necker ...

(1781) - physician and musician; inventor of stethoscope *

Georges Clemenceau Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...

(1841-1929) - Prime Minister of France 1906-1909, 1917-1920 * Gabriel Guist'hau (1863,Saint-Pierre, Réunion -1931) - politician * Jacqueline Auriol (1917, Challans, Vendée – 2000) - aviator who set several world speed records * Annie Brisset - Professor of Translation Studies, Canada *

(born 1950) - Prime Minister of France 2012-2014 * Pierre Bordage (born 1955, La Réorthe, Vendée) - science fiction author * François Bréda (1956, Romania – 2018) - Romanian essayist, poet, literary critique, literary historian, translator and theatrologist. * Stéphane Le Foll (born 1960, Le Mans) - politician Socialist Party * Azzedine Bousseksou (born 1964), Franco-Algerian physico-

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe t ...

Laurent Berger Laurent Berger (born 27 October 1968 in Guérande, Loire-Atlantique) is a French trade unionist. He has been the general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) since 28 November 2012. Life Youth Laurent Berger is th ...

(born 1968 in Guérande, Loire-Atlantique) - trade unionist; general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) * Sylvie Tellier (born 1978) - television personality, businesswoman, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss France 2002 *

Yvonne Okoro Chinyere Yvonne Okoro is a Ghanaian Nigerian actress. Born to a Nigerian dad and Ghanaian mother, Yvonne Okoro is of mixed lineage and calls herself an African. Yvonne Okoro is from Koforidua in the Eastern Parts of Ghana. She received Ghana Mo ...

(born 1984, Nigeria) - Ghanaian-Nigerian actress * Clément Nyaletsossi Voule (born in Togo) - diplomat and jurist. * Jean-Marc Coicaud - legal and political theorist

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nantes, University of

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

1460 establishments in Europe 1460s establishments in France Saint-Nazaire Educational institutions established in the 15th century Educational institutions established in 1970 Buildings and structures in Nantes Education in Pays de la Loire Tourist attractions in Nantes