University in France
Brest, Bretagne, France
University profile
The Université de Bretagne Occidentale (UBO) is a public multidisciplinary university (établissement public à caractère scientifique, culturel et professionnel) based in Brest, in the Finistère department of Brittany. In January 2026 it counted 22,583 students, 465 doctoral students, 1,416 teaching staff and 1,104 support staff, and it runs 35 research units.
Teaching covers arts, letters and languages; law, economics and management; sciences, technology and health; marine and coastal sciences; sport sciences; education sciences; and humanities and social sciences. The faculties and schools are the Faculté de Droit, Économie, Gestion et AES; Faculté de Médecine et Sciences de la Santé; Faculté de Maïeutique; Faculté des Lettres et Sciences humaines Victor Segalen; Faculté des Sciences du Sport et de l'Éducation; Faculté des Sciences et Techniques; Faculté d'Odontologie; Faculté d'Orthophonie; EURIA (actuarial institute); IPAG; the IUT de Brest-Morlaix and IUT de Quimper; the Pôle universitaire Pierre-Jakez Hélias in Quimper; and the IUEM marine science institute. Since March 2025 the ESIAB engineering school, the IAE business school and the ENIB school have been grouped as Bretagne INP, a national polytechnic institute.
The university is especially known for marine science. Around 500 scientists work on the ocean, mainly at the IUEM, and UBO ranks 14th in oceanography research in the 2026 Shanghai ranking; it also entered the top 700 of the overall 2026 Shanghai ranking. UBO is one of the nine seafront universities of the SEA-EU alliance (with Cádiz, Gdańsk, Malta, Kiel, Split, Naples, Faro and Bodø), and its Centre de recherche bretonne et celtique makes it a centre for Breton language and culture.
Student life is organised around campuses in Brest, Quimper, Morlaix and Plouzané. UBO has 70 labelled student associations and more than 70 sport activities, with three stadiums, gymnasiums, a weights room and a climbing wall. Restaurants and cafeterias run with CROUS on the campuses, a student health service offers free appointments in Brest and Quimper, and the Les Abords space hosts four contemporary art exhibitions a year. University housing is handled by the CROUS of Rennes.
In 2025-26 the university received 2,707 incoming international students and has 405 Erasmus+ agreements, 133 agreements outside Europe and 221 partner universities. A small number of programmes are taught fully or partly in English, including a Bachelor-level International Business semester at the IUT de Brest and Master's programmes in marine biotechnology, marine physics, Celtic studies, TILE and computer science (SIIA).
National registration fees: 178 EUR for a Licence, 255 EUR for a Master, 398 EUR for a doctorate or HDR and 630 EUR for an engineering diploma. The CVEC (contribution vie étudiante et de campus) for 2026-2027 is 105 EUR and is paid in addition.
Non-EU students subject to differentiated fees pay 2,902 EUR for a Licence, BUT or licence professionnelle and 3,950 EUR for a Master (plus the 105 EUR CVEC), payable on entry. Not concerned: EU/EEA, Monaco, Andorra, Quebec and Swiss nationals; doctoral, third-cycle health and HDR students; students already enrolled at UBO in 2025-26 continuing within the same cycle; refugees and subsidiary-protection beneficiaries; holders of resident cards; those fiscally domiciled in France for over two years; CPGE pupils; apprentices; and non-EU newcomers whose admission notice dated before 21 May 2026 explicitly mentioned exemption.
Exemption applies to French government scholarship holders and to students covered by reciprocal inter-institution cooperation agreements. UBO may also grant total or partial exemption on individual request based on personal situation, capped at 30% of liable students for 2026-27; a granted exemption is refunded. Questions go to [email protected]. See differentiated fees.
UBO nominates candidates for the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs Eiffel programme at Master (including engineering) and doctorate level in sciences and techniques (biology and health, ecological transition, mathematics and digital, engineering) and humanities and social sciences (French history, language and civilisation; law and political science; economics and management). Master candidates must be born after 31 March 1997 and doctoral candidates after 31 March 1991; applicants must be foreign nationals. Duration is up to 24 months for M1, 12 for M2, 36 for engineering and 36 for a first-year doctorate. Applications go through UBO's international affairs office only, never directly to Campus France: Master candidates email nationality, desired programme and one PDF (three years of transcripts, CV, motivation letter, evidence of excellence) to [email protected]; doctoral candidates first contact a research unit. UBO deadline: 8 December 2026 (Campus France's own deadline is 6 January 2027). Official page.
Erasmus+ and SEA-EU support mobility, including SEA-EU Doc grants for doctoral research stays (16 October 2026 to 30 June 2027) and a one-year exchange for four Licence students at the University of Maine at Augusta without tuition fees.
Eiffel Excellence Scholarships via UBO (Master and PhD) →
UBO Individual Tuition Fee Exemption for Non-EU Students →
Fondation UBO Talents Culturels Scholarships →
Fondation UBO Meilleur Espoir Los Angeles 2028 Scholarships →
Browse the scholarships listed for Université de Bretagne Occidentale and check each award’s eligibility.
View scholarships for Université de Bretagne Occidentale →First-year admission to a Licence, BUT, PASS or DEUST goes through the national Parcoursup portal for applicants not in continuing education. Programme characteristics, expected profile and admission criteria are listed per course on Parcoursup, and the calendar of wishes is published there.
Applications are made online on the eCandidat platform; calendars vary by programme and are shown in the platform's course offer. Programmes not on eCandidat are handled by the relevant faculty's scolarité. Engineering applicants to the ESIAB programmes (Microbiologie et qualité; Production, innovation et biotechnologies en agroalimentaire) apply through the ESIAB admission portal.
Applications are made on the national Mon Master platform. For the 2026 campaign, applications ran from 17 February to 16 March 2026, with examination from 23 March to 29 May, answers on 3 June and admission from 3 to 16 June (work-study programmes followed a shorter calendar, and a complementary phase ran from 19 to 25 June). The Master 1 Pratique et Ingénierie de la Formation of INSPÉ de Bretagne uses UBO's eCandidat platform instead. Graduates with a national licence from the last three years not admitted may refer to the rector via Mon Master from 20 July.
Non-EU students admitted through the Études en France or eCandidat procedures register administratively once admitted; a pedagogical admission does not automatically grant a fee exemption. For exchange programmes a level B2 in the teaching language is strongly recommended. Programmes taught fully or partly in English include the International Business Program (IUT Brest, semester 4), Marine Biotechnologies, IMBRSea, Marine Physics, Celtic Studies, TILE and SIIA (year 2) at Master level; personalised 30 ECTS English-language programmes can be built from existing English courses.
Candidates approach a research unit with a thesis project; doctoral training is organised through the Collège doctoral de Bretagne, with 11 doctoral schools attached at UBO.
Non-EU students must register on the Ameli platform for health-care coverage. From 1 July 2026, non-EU/EEA/Swiss students must hold a means-tested higher-education scholarship to claim housing aid (APL, ALF, ALS). Monthly living costs are put at 450 EUR (university housing) to 700 EUR (private rental).
Campus services include university restaurants (Armen, Centre/Segalen, Kergoat in Brest; Kernévent in Plouzané; Ker Ys and PJH in Quimper), CROUS and IZEE cafeterias, 62 vending machines, three stadiums, gymnasiums, a weights room, a climbing wall, the Bibliothèque universitaire, a free student health service in Brest and Quimper, and the Les Abords exhibition space.
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