The University of Western Brittany (; UBO) is a French university, located in Brest, in the Academy of Rennes. On a national scale, in terms of graduate employability, the university oscillates between 18th and 53rd out of 69 universities depending on fields of study. Overall, the university is ranked 12th out of 76 universities in France.

Location

The University of Western Brittany is in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

, on the north-western coast of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is a multicampus university, with the main site in Brest and satellite campuses in

Quimper Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a Communes of France, commune and Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the ...

and

Morlaix Morlaix (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. History The Battle of Morlaix, part of the Hundred Years' War, was fought near the town on 30 Septembe ...

. Brest is an hour from Paris by air, or four hours by train. Brest is one of the world's marine science capitals and is home to 60% of French marine researchers, as well as several major organizations such as

IFREMER The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...

and IPEV. The city is also famous for its sailing activities. Brittany's economic development is driven by the agri-food, health, and telecommunications sectors.

Academics

French universities function via a system of collegiate administration. Each institution is led by a team of lecturer-researchers and overseen by a president, bringing together representatives from all affiliated faculties and institutes, as well as student-elected delegates. Universities are chiefly financed by the French government.

List of faculties and schools

6 faculties * Humanities and Social Sciences * Science and Technology * Law, Economics and Management * Education and Sports Sciences * Medicine and Health Sciences * Dentistry 7 specialized institutes * Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Brest (IUT), * Institut Universitaire de Technologie de

(IUT), * Institut d’Administration des Entreprises (IAE) in

, * Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer (IUEM), * École supérieure du professorat et de l'éducation (ESPE), * Euro Institut d’Actuariat (EURIA), * Institut de Formation en Masso-Kinésithérapie (IFMK), in partnership with the University Hospital of Brest. 1 engineering school * École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Agroalimentaire de Bretagne atlantique (ESIAB) 1 midwifery school * École de sage-femme, in partnership with the University Hospital of Brest.

International collaboration

The university is an active member of the

University of the Arctic The University of the Arctic (UArctic) is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arcti ...

. UArctic is an international cooperative network based in the Circumpolar Arctic region, consisting of more than 200 universities, colleges, and other organizations with an interest in promoting education and research in the Arctic region. The university also participates in UArctic's mobility program north2north. The aim of that program is to enable students of member institutions to study in different parts of the North.

Research

French research is essentially academic in nature, encompassing the work of university laboratories and their partner organisations. UBO is home to 37 laboratories, some of which are supported by prestigious French research bodies, such as CNRS, INSERM, and IRD. There are four principal areas of research at UBO : * Marine Sciences * Health, Agrifood and Materials * Maths-ICT * Humanities and Social Sciences

Notable people

Alumni

* Philippe Collin,

anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...

for

France Inter France Inter () is a French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is the successor to Paris Inter, later known as France I, and created as a merger of the France I and France II networks, first as RTF Inter in October 1963, then ren ...

radio * Benoît Hamon, politician and former minister of National Education * François Cuillandre, politician and current mayor of the city of Brest * Didier Le Gac, politician and member of the

National Assembly of France The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...

for the city of Brest * Joëlle Bergeron, politician and current member of the Europarliament * Christophe Miossec, musician and singer * Tristan Nihouarn, musician and singer * Christian Gourcuff, former football player and manager * Paul Le Guen, former football player and manager * Chantal Conand, marine biologist * Kofi Yamgnane, politician and engineer

Faculty

* Fátima Rodríguez (b. 1961), writer, translator

References

University of Western Brittany Universities and colleges established in 1970 {{France-university-stub