Normandy plans English university

NORMANDY is planning to build what it claims will be the biggest all-English university campus in mainland Europe in a bid to improve the region’s international reputation.

The huge complex in the centre of Caen, if approved, will be the base for thousands of students from France, the UK and all over the world.

Basse-Normandie council is understood to be pitching the idea to several big British universities including Oxford and Cambridge in April, in the hope of forming a partnership.

The new university hopes to attract visiting lecturers and researchers on a broad range of subjects, including medicine, technology and agriculture.

The region’s vice-president Alain Tourret says Normandy is too dependent on Paris and should be creating better links with the UK.

He hopes the university’s location will make it a popular choice for students and academics who might otherwise have been drawn to the capital.

"At the moment, a university like this does not exist," Mr Tourret said. "Look around Europe and you’ll see tuition in English within bigger universities and specialist schools, but no big general English campus."

Some similar, although smaller, institutions already exist in France. INSEAD is renowned for its English-language business tuition, while the American University of Paris specialises in social sciences and communications.

A spokeswoman for the Basse-Normandie regional council said the proposal was still at a very early stage and it was too early to confirm how many students will study there and exactly how the project will be financed.

In an interview with The Connexion this month, Higher Education Minister Valérie Pécresse says: "We have a tradition of cooperation in education with the UK ... we are shaping a higher education map where important centres will extend their influence in Europe and worldwide."