Discover Saint-Étienne

COME AND STUDY IN SAINT-ÉTIENNE

Saint-Étienne is a land of creativity: here, you can develop your talents and enrich your skills:

  • You will experience places that promote the birth of new ideas: the creative Manufacture neighbourhood, the Health Innovations campus, the networks of associations, the forthcoming Centre of Knowledge for Innovation, Saint-Étienne Tech Mines, the cross-disciplinary Tréfilerie Campus, etc..

Here you can build your opportunities and multiply exchanges and contacts to highlight your talent.

  • Add another asset to your profile! Here you will discover the contribution of design thanks to the training courses on offer and to the presence of the City of Design and its global-reach event: the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial. Stand out by adding design to your professional qualifications.

Here you will never be alone: our approach is based on mutual assistance and solidarity, coupled with effective networking of talents:

  • You will be offered many opportunities to collaborate with students from other institutions, to participate in local events and receive input from successful alumni of Saint-Étienne. The networking of talents has its roots in the resources offered by the territory.
  • In Saint-Étienne you will have an opportunity to experiment and pursue creative ideas in a collaborative manner. The city offers a springboard to a professional life focused on innovation, in an optimistic and rewarding environment. Because it is by exploring, testing and experimenting that you can best reveal your talent.

SAINT-ÉTIENNE, LAND OF INNOVATION

In Saint-Étienne you will be moving in an inspiring setting that knows how make the most of innovation to reinvent itself.

Saint-Étienne is building its future with confidence by developing networks of excellence in especially promising fields: New Manufacturing and Health Engineering.

New Manufacturing, or how Saint-Étienne re-invents industry

Saint-Étienne hosts industrial companies from all over France in search of new inspiration.

By making design an added-value element in the development of products, new markets have been created in Saint-Étienne, and industrial companies have converted their operations to innovation-driven sectors, such as additive manufacturing and surface treatment engineering.

Laboratories, companies, schools, students and researchers work together on equipment of excellence to invent tomorrow’s industry. More than 4,500 companies operating in this field provide 20,000 jobs in the local area.

Major industrial companies have established operations in Saint-Étienne: Thalès Angénieux, Zodiac Aerospace, HEF Group, ArcelorMittal, Axletech International, Clextral, Haulotte Group, etc.

To learn more about the local networks of excellence, visit the websites of their key players:

Manutech

Mécaloire

Preventive healthcare and health engineering, a local hub

Saint-Étienne is home to more than 100 medical device companies, employing a total workforce of 3,000. No less than 60% of French medical textiles are produced in the metropolitan area of Saint-Étienne. Three leading global companies have long been established here: Gibaud, Sigvaris and Thuasne.

The sector’s technological innovation covers 3 key areas:

  • Medical textiles
  • Medical implants
  • Medical equipment

In Saint-Étienne, the Health Innovation Campus was conceived as an innovation hub in the areas of preventive medicine, sport, engineering and healthcare. With perfectly equipped and closely arranged premises, the Health Innovation Campus offers outstanding facilities for study, research and development conditions in a cooperative and multi-disciplinary setting.

Its mission is to act as an accelerator of fruitful educational, scientific and industrial collaborations between doctors, engineers, companies and students.

LIVING IN SAINT ÉTIENNE

Saint-Étienne offers excellent quality of life, thanks to its exceptionally well-preserved natural environment.

With 2,000 hours of sunshine (more than Nantes, Paris or Biarritz), 2,500 km of marked trails, a water sports centre and a cross-country skiing facility less than 15 minutes from the city centre, you can enjoy a broad range of outdoor activities in the pristine and easily accessible countryside.

Moving around in Saint-Étienne is also very easy. Three tram lines, a self-service bicycle hire system, a car-sharing scheme and a network of bus routes offer you a broad range of options to optimise your travel time.

KEY FIGURES

  • 400,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area.
  • More than 11,000 businesses: The second largest French network of SMEs and SMIs, after the Île-de-France.
  • 25,000 students, including 15% non-French
  • 800 researchers
  • Saint-Étienne has been a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network since 2010, together with international cities such as Berlin, Montreal, Turin and Beijing.
  • Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial: 230,000 visitors in 2017, including 2,500 international visitors and more than 10,000 professionals.
  • Saint-Étienne welcomes the students coming to the city: More than 25 free events are held over a period of 10 days in autumn, with more than 4,000 participants.
  • Cultural/sport/leisure activities on offer to 16-25 year-olds: More than 10,000 young people have registered with the dedicated website Saintépass.fr