Rennes pampers its student
Elected 5th best student city in 2016 by L’Étudiant magazine, Rennes lives to the rhythm of the young students. They represent 30% of the total population of the city, creating a special atmosphere in the Breton capital; that creativity footprint, movement and a festive spirit.
Rennes really takes care of its students. The TamTam Festival opens the University year, and is organised by the CRIJ (Regional Youth Information Centre) and 4bis, a location dedicated to the young people of the city; providing them with information and tips (associations, jobs, trips etc.). For accommodation, there is a wide selection of university residences and shared flats in town. To get around, there is a dense network with 45 bus lines, a subway line (soon two) and bicycles (Velo Star), very popular with students.
Recreation galore
An intense cultural, festive and sporting effervescence! Our students are all smiles, for everything is done to provide the best leisure time. The Cultural facilities in Rennes are renowned: The Champs Libres, the Diapason; there is the Interuniversity Sports and Physical Activities Service (SUIAPS) facilitating sports activities, especially now that Rennes is one of the few towns in France with an indoor athletics stadium, the Stade Robert Poirier. Finally, the city is obviously the stage for numerous festivals (Trans Musicales, Rock’n Solex, The Embellies, Mythos, I’m From Rennes and more).
A rich offer of courses
Rennes is a major university centre. On the Beaulieu campus (Rennes I), there are the sciences, philosophy, the IUT, INSA, Supélec, and the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie; On the Villejean campus (Rennes II), there are the human and social sciences but also medicine and then, last but not least, in the heart of town is the school of Architecture, Political Science, the Fine Arts, Law, the Institute of Management not to mention the ESC Rennes in the north of the city. The quality of the higher education as well as the reputation of the University centres and colleges are well established.
The International University Residence opens its doors
Rennes students often continue their studies abroad: 700 left to go abroad in 2014. However, Rennes is also a destination for foreign students. The city hosts them with great care, right up to meeting them off the train to take them to their campus! Among the countries most represented are China, leading with nearly 400 students and Spain (150 students), followed by Brazil and Germany. The new International University Residence Paul Ricoeur, in the heart of the city, near the Metro and close to the main train station, was especially built for them: 80 places, cafeteria, International Mobility Centre, Brittany-Loire University offices, an urban gym on three floors; this is a veritable hive for meetings, exchanges and life!
Iman, student engineer involved in association life
Baccalaureate in hand, Iman arrived in Rennes to enrole in the National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA). Now in her third year, she has a rich association activity. Communications Manager for the Great Western Forum organised by her school, elected member of the INSA Board of Directors, Secretary of the BEAR (Student Welcome Office in Rennes) member of INSA Environmental Association. While Iman loved living in a shared apartment, and considered it “a beautiful experience! “, today she lives in the Cité U (university residence). Iman is living her life as a student to the full in Rennes: student parties, festivals, theatre and much more.
Quentin, or the busy life of a student in Rennes
From sports activities with the SIUAPS, to a radio show called the “BORDEL” (Bazar Organisé Radiophonique Des Étudiants Lambda) every Saturday at 1 PM on the Radio Campus, organisation of cultural and festive events with the student body of History, politics with the student association L’Armée Dumbledore who sits on the University Board; Quentin, 19, is certainly a hyperactive student. He relishes his youth and all the opportunities that the Villejean campus and the city of Rennes offers. When he is not organising an association or a party, he likes to attend plays by the student association K-Barré in the green areas of the college, to feast on a sausage galette and spin into the city centre by metro. In just 5 minutes, he can meet his friends to go out.
