The Franco-German University (FGU) is a network of affiliated universities from France, Germany and other countries. Its administrative offices are located in Saarbrücken, Germany. The FGU was established as an international institution following an intergovernmental agreement (the Weimar Agreement) in 1997.
The FGU provides expert guidance on relations between French and German universities with the aim of improving cooperation in the areas of university study programmes and research in both countries.
The FGU’s main tasks include initiating, coordinating and funding structured academic programmes for each of the three Bologna cycles. These degree programmes are subject to external evaluation by French and German academic experts.
Since 1558, the University of Jena embodies awakening and open-mindedness, freedom of faith and of science. Its appealing study and research environment attract scientists, scholars, and students from around the world. The University shapes the city’s image of a future-oriented and cosmopolitan location.
In the focal research areas Light, Life, Liberty the University pools its top research. It constantly places its trust in an interdisciplinary approach and an international character.
The French National Centre for Scientific Research is among the world's leading research institutions. Its scientists explore the living world, matter, the Universe, and the functioning of human societies in order to meet the major challenges of today and tomorrow. Internationally recognised for the excellence of its scientific research, the CNRS is a reference in the world of research and development, as well as for the general public.
Nantes Université has never stopped moving forward. Faced with today’s challenges we constantly reinvent ourselves. In the last 50 years, Nantes Université has taken training and research to the highest level and, in 2015 took a spot in the Times Higher Education World University Ranking. Nantes Université is ranked among the top 25 French universities. In these 50 years we have considerably progressed.
The Institute of Materials was created in 1988 by the renowned French chemist Jean Rouxel. Drawing together chemists, physicists and materials engineers from the CNRS and the University of Nantes, with over 150 researchers and support staff it now represents one of the largest materials research centres in France. Research projects are diverse, including collaborations with industry, and other national and international research organisations.
At the IMN we develop a fundamental understanding of the science of materials and their properties from the atomic scale upwards. This allows the design, characterisation and optimisation of new materials for a diverse range of high technology applications, including next generation solar cells, fuel cells, electric car batteries, nanotechnology, smart materials, materials for microelectronics, photonic and optical materials.
RS2E - for Réseau sur le stockage électrochimique de l’énergie or "research network on electrochemical energy storage" - is a French research and technology transfer network devoted to energy storage devices: rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and other alternative techniques intended for multiple commercial products (electric vehicles, portable electronics and electricity storage from renewable sources). RS2E is a CNRS research network (French national center for scientific research) created with the support of the Ministry of higher education and research.