A public higher education and research establishment offering a university model that is unique in France, combining a university, a university hospital (CHU de Nantes), a technological research institute (IRT Jules Verne), a national research organisation (Inserm) and a number of grandes écoles (Centrale Nantes, École des Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, École d'Architecture de Nantes).
Areas of training and research: Humanities, languages, arts, human and social sciences, science and technology, technology, health, economics and management, law.