Grenoble, Rennes and Toulouse: the best student cities in France

Every year, the French site L’Étudiant (The Student) publishes a ranking of the best student cities in France. Judging by several factors, they provide a snapshot of the best cities to in France for student life. Roomlala has provided a quick run-down of the top three and the method they used to work it out.

Why are Grenoble, Rennes and Toulouse the best student cities?

Rennes, Toulouse and Grenoble – three cities of medium size – have nabbed the top three spots on the leaderboard of French student cities. In part due to the wide range of courses in different specialities available, these cities can attract a wide range of students from different backgrounds. Rennes charms students with its historic city centre, its festive environment and host of social activities. Toulouse is known as a welcoming city, with a vibrant lifestyle but still practical as you can get about everywhere on foot. As for Grenoble, most students are attracted by its breath-taking scenery and its proximity to the slopes!

Landscape Grenoble

Rennes and Toulouse have many universities and thus offer a wide range of courses: there are schools of engineering, art, business and political sciences. This means a wider range of students to get to know!

Most importantly, in all of these cities you can benefit from the rich and diverse student life, with great nightlife and a host of sporting and cultural activities on offer. There are many local initiatives designed to attract and welcome students. Grenoble is well-known for its great atmosphere and access to sport, with students loving the ‘montagnard’ lifestyle. Toulouse is equally known for its sport, particularly for rugby.

Houses Toulouse

Students who want to move to Rennes, where a fifth of the population are students, Grenoble, with a huge number of Erasmus students, or especially Toulouse, benefit from greater employment prospects in the future. There is a very low unemployment rate in all three cities – ideal if you’re thinking more long term! This is how these three cities became the best student cities for 2016/17.

Houses Rennes

What methodology did they use for the rankings?

The ranking system used by L’Étudiant was based on 15 criteria, grouped into 3 subcategories: attractiveness, courses, student life, living conditions and employment. Using public data, 43 student cities were also evaluated according to the number of students, proportion of Erasmus students, university drop-out rates and the number of bars per 100,000 people. The diversity and precision of the criteria allowed them to work out a score that reflects many different aspects in the everyday life of students.

If you want to find out more - and test your French - you can find the whole list of criteria and 43 cities on the site of L’Étudiant.

Author: Roomlala

Where to live in London: A guide

When planning on moving to the Big Smoke, or simply deciding to move to a new area, it can be difficult to figure out where to live in London as the huge amount of choice can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know the city very well. Whether you’re looking for accommodation in East London, West London, North or South, there’s something for everyone. Students With universities all around the city, students in London are all spread out, just like student housing in London is too. Stud...

House rules to roommate agreements: A guide to life as a flatmate

Whether moving in with people you already know or with complete strangers, flatmate life can be a great experience, but also sometimes a messy one if you’re not careful as living in close quarters can often lead to the odd argument. However, if you follow our tips, you’ll be living in harmony. Set house rules By setting house rules right at the beginning, everyone is on the same page from day one regarding what is expected of themselves and each other. These can include who does which chor...

Buying rental property: How the buy to let scheme works

Buying rental property can be a great investment but, it can also be daunting if you don’t know where to start. The buy to let scheme offers mortgages to people who want to buy a house or flat in order to rent it out. These mortgages are slightly different to normal ones, and often have different requirements and rules. However, like normal mortgages, the buy-to-let scheme lets you buy a property without having to save up to pay it all at once. What’s the difference between a buy-to-let (BTL)...

What to include in your house viewing checklist

If you’re looking for a room, house or flat, it’s likely that you’ll want to go see the property before you sign the rental contract. This might be daunting, especially if it’ll be the first time you’ve gone to a viewing, which is why we’ve created this house viewing checklist to ensure you know everything you need to ask and look for. Things to look out for Potentially the most important part of this house viewing checklist, the things you see (and often hear) can be the biggest tell-tale...