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[10 years] A decade of international development

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At the University of Bordeaux, mobility opportunities are offered to both staff and students from the outset of their career or studies. The internationalisation of its teaching and research activities is a major strategic objective for the institution, thanks to a series of structuring partnerships in Europe and around the world.

Photo : The University works in cooperation with over 500 institutions worldwide to give students access to mobility abroad © université de Bordeaux
The University works in cooperation with over 500 institutions worldwide to give students access to mobility abroad © université de Bordeaux

To establish an international campus, the University of Bordeaux has been working with a number of privileged partners since 2014, with whom it is expanding its relations. These include the universities of Tsukuba and Kyoto in Japan, California and Cincinnati in the United States, Laval, Waterloo and McGill in Canada, and the University of the Basque Country through the Euskampus campus of excellence.

More than 60 international study programmes are available at Bachelor, Master and Doctoral level, with courses taught in a foreign language, obligatory periods of mobility abroad and the possibility of double or joint degrees.

The university is also seizing the opportunities offered by the European Union in terms of education and research. It is even one of France's most active university's in the Erasmus Mundus programme, with joint or double Master degrees between institutions in different countries.

As for research, the University of Bordeaux supports joint international laboratories with the CNRS, INSERM and INRAe in partnership with several regions of the world, including Japan, Canada, China and India.

Internationalisation has played a major role in the development of our university. Throughout our first ten years, the culture of large-scale international partnerships has helped to build our university's identity and raise the profile of the quality of research and teaching at the University of Bordeaux - a leading multidisciplinary research university, rooted in south-west France and open to the world. Today, this diverse and rich international action continues to accompany our development and opens up opportunities for the entire university community - here on our campus, at the heart of our educational offer, or through mobility of all kinds - physical, hybrid and online.

Joanne Pagèze, Vice-President for internationalisation

Carrying out a mobility period

Thimothée Levi, lecturer-researcher at the IMS, in Tokyo

Set up four years ago, the international Biomeg team - which brings together scientists from the Laboratory for the Integration from Material to System (IMS, CNRS/Bordeaux INP/University of Bordeaux), LIMMS and the University of Tokyo - has generated a fertile flow of artificial neuron researchers (article in French), doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as Master and engineering students between the two countries.

Timothée Levi (centre) with the team he led during his trip to Tokyo.
Timothée Levi (centre) with the team he led during his trip to Tokyo.

I carried out a mobility period at the University of Tokyo in Japan between 2017 and 2020. This 3-year mobility enabled me to create collaborations between the University of Bordeaux and the University of Tokyo, which led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions. Numerous student and researcher exchanges have subsequently taken place. This has also led to the creation of an international project team between Bordeaux and Tokyo via the LIMMS International Research Laboratory (Laboratory for Integrated Micro-Mechatronic Systems - IRL), which specialises in artificial neurons.

Timothée Levi, lecturer-researcher, Laboratory for the Integration from Material to System (IMS, CNRS/University of Bordeaux/Bordeaux INP)

Andréa Wauthier, chemistry student in Bratislava

Andréa Wauthier, a 21-year-old third-year chemistry student at the University of Bordeaux, chose to spend a semester at the Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia) - a member of the ENLIGHT consortium - thanks to the Erasmus+ programme. This mobility enabled her to improve her English, learn Slovakian and follow different courses from those offered in France. It was an enriching experience that complemented her academic studies.

Lorette Pouhet, 7th from the right, with other international students @ University of Cincinnati
Lorette Pouhet, 7th from the right, with other international students @ University of Cincinnati

Outgoing mobility: Lorette Pouhet, beta tester of the double degree in law at the University of Cincinnati

Prior to the signing of the double degree agreement between the University of Bordeaux and the University of Cincinnati - now open to students from the Faculty of Law and Political Science - Master student Lorette Pouhet was awarded a scholarship to test the appeal of the course. Read her enthusiastic testimonial.

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Incoming mobility: María Ángeles Medina Alcaide at the PACEA laboratory

María Ángeles Medina Alcaide is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie post-doctoral fellow in the Prehistory to Present Time: Culture, Environment, Anthropology (PACEA) laboratory, a rewarding experience on both a scientific and personal level.

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Mª Ángeles Medina Alcaide © University of Bordeaux
Mª Ángeles Medina Alcaide © University of Bordeaux
Bae Hee-Joon © Seoul National University College of Medicine
Bae Hee-Joon © Seoul National University College of Medicine

Visiting Scholars: Bae Hee-Joon visiting Korean lecturer-researcher

Bae Hee-Joon is professor of neurology at Seoul National University College of Medicine, neurologist at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital and director of the Gyeonggi Regional Cardiac and Cerebrovascular Centre in Seoul, South Korea. He is a world-renowned specialist in stroke and vascular cognitive disorders. He spent 3 months working at the University-Hospital Institute for Vascular Brain Health (VBHI) and in the Eleanor team at the Bordeaux Population Health (BPH) research centre.

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Enriching training and research

The Franco-German double degree in law

The Franco-German law degree has been open since 2019. It is accredited by the Franco-German University and enables students, over 3 years, to obtain a double Bachelor of law from the universities of Bordeaux and Bayreuth. Students begin their studies in their respective countries, then complete their second year of law studies in Bayreuth, and finally their third year of law studies in Bordeaux (in French).


Stéphanie Roussel, professor, head of the Languages Department, deputy head of the Franco-German law degree, College of Law, Political Science, Economics and Management / LACES

International Master degree - EMN-Online

The EMN-Online pathway of the Bordeaux Master in Neuroscience has existed in Bordeaux since 2012, with around 12 students enrolled each year. Co-accredited with Aix-Marseille and Nice-Côte d'Azur since the start of the 2024 academic year, the Master will also be co-accredited with Strasbourg at the start of the 2025 academic year. Some 40 students will benefit each year in France (not counting partner universities in Poland, Spain, Tunisia, Morocco, Lebanon and Egypt) from this online teaching programme, which enables students who so wish to undertake two 6-month placements during the course, combining laboratory work with e-learning courses.

Marc Landry, professor of cell biology and neuroscience, head of the Purinergic mediated neuroinflammation and brain disorders research team, Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases (IMN)

Erasmus Mundus Joint Master - AMIR

Created in 2016, with the support of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), the AMIR Master degree (Advanced Materials: Innovative Recycling) was born out of a partnership between the universities of Bordeaux (France), Liège (Belgium), TU Darmstadt (Germany), the Technical University of Madrid (Spain), the University of Miskolc (Hungary) and the NOVA University of Lisbon (Portugal). The Master brings together a wide range of academic, industrial and research experts in a programme that trains future international professionals to develop new and innovative ways of recycling rare materials. It offers excellent training in the recycling of raw materials, particularly sophisticated advanced materials that currently have low recycling rates. Students can choose between Bordeaux, Lisbon or Miskolc for their first year of the programme and between Darmstadt, Liège and Madrid for their second year. Since 2021, the Master programme has been awarded the Erasmus Mundus label, which means that scholarships can be offered to students from the four corners of the globe who are among the best in the world in their discipline.

Sophie Coudray, European projects and internationalisation officer, International Office

Erasmus Mundus, an ongoing success story

As the Erasmus Mundus programme celebrates its twentieth anniversary, focus on these highly-recognised international Master programmes in which the University of Bordeaux excels.

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Cohort of students from the Neurasmus 2023 Master programme ® University of Bordeaux
Cohort of students from the Neurasmus 2023 Master programme ® University of Bordeaux

Spotlight on the international track in human sciences

This introductory teaching unit aims to develop the cultural awareness and openness to the world of students from the College of Human Sciences, to encourage them to explore cultural diversity in interdisciplinary contexts where English is the lingua franca, and to guide them in the design and production of multimedia content in international groups. This course is open to students from the various study programmes of the College of Human Sciences (anthropology, psychology, education and training sciences, sociology and sports science) as well as to students on exchange programmes from all courses. A reflection on culture and intercultural competence is conducted through the ten tutorial sessions. Students' work is often exhibited on the Victoire site and in the Espace Langues.

Thibault Marthouret, associate professor of English, Languages and Cultures Department

Being able to grow cancer cells (in green) is at the heart of the BOTS project © Gautier Dufau - University of Bordeaux
Being able to grow cancer cells (in green) is at the heart of the BOTS project © Gautier Dufau - University of Bordeaux

BOTS, from blue innovation to pink October

Focus on this original and innovative European project, which combines the creation of new marine hydrogels with the cultivation of simplified mini-organ systems (organoids) from tumours, with the aim of improving treatments.

Read more (in French)

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