Angers

Angers is a city in France in the département of Maine-et-Loire, 191 miles south-west of Paris. (The area surrounding Angers is more popularly known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou.)

Colleges and universities

A centre of learning, Angers boasts two renowned universities and several high schools, together responsible for more than 30,000 students. One of five Catholic universities in France, L'Université Catholique de l'Ouest, is here. Also, UCO calls Angers home, and houses le Centre International Des Études Françaises.

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Along with students from all over the world, Americans from the Universities of Auburn, Notre Dame, Oregon, Clemson, and Kansas come to Angers to spend time in the CIDEF program, immersed in French language and culture. The program provides immersion courses for foreign students. Courses including literature, politics, theology, philosophy, and grammar (and an unofficial slang course!) are all taught in French. Angers is considered an excellent location to learn French because the Angevin accent is said to retain the regal and aristocratic flavor of the royals who holidayed in the Loire Valley for centuries, and is said to be easily understood throughout the francophone world.

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Angers' other educational institutions include seminaries, a lycée; a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy; a university with faculties of theology, law, letters, and science; a higher school of agriculture, training colleges, a school of arts and handicrafts, and a school of fine art. Its education and research institutes are the driving force behind the city's science and technology industries.

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