Pays de la Loire is a French region in the west of France. As the name indicates, the Loira River runs through the region to reach the Atlantic Ocean there. The coastal area is UNESCO listed as a part of World Heritage. With the Atlantic coast stretching several hundred kilometers and with hundreds of kilometers of navigable waterways, the region is typical of flat landscape dotted with romantic chateaux and castles. The local climate is mild and the country is very green. As regards the region's economy, major importance can be attached to agriculture, food industry, processing industry, aviation industry and tourism.

The region's capital is the city of Nantes. Built on the Loira River, Nantes is about 50 km away from the Atlantic Ocean. Its 292,000 inhabitants make Nantes the 6th most populous city in the country. The town has an international airport and a railroad link to Paris, serviced also by the TGV trains. Nantes had a harbor of historical importance on the Loira, one of the busiest in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Overseas trade, particularly the slave trade, was the reason why the city grew immensely rich in the period.

Academy of Nantes

Young & Dynamic Academy

Nantes Academy is a school administration area covering the region of Pays de la Loire and encompassing five districts with several large cities (Nantes, Angers, Le Mans) plus some coastal zones (Loire-Atlantique, Vendée) and rural districts (Sarthe, Mayenne).

Serving over 800,000 pupils at 4,000 schools and educational establishments from elementary schools to universities, the Academy is the 4th largest academy in France. Local students achieve better examination results than what is achieved nationally (the best results in the GCE exams for 2013).

Almost 30% of pupils take interest in technical secondary education and, consequently, this type of education is an important sector of the local educational system. This fact certainly does not come as a surprise because the region offers the graduates of technical schools a broad variety of jobs.

The Academy tries hard to encourage the cooperation of its schools with foreign institutions. Cooperating with 10 partner countries, the Nantes Academy ranks third in France as regards the number of foreign partnerships: Morocco (Doukkala Abda); Great Britain (Nottingham / Somerset / Wigan); Germany (Schleswig-Holstein); Italy (Émilie-Romagne) and Mexico (Youcatan).

Nantes Academy belonged to the founding fathers of a range of projects devised to advance different types of exchanges and mobilities. All such activities honor the principle of reciprocal arrangements - the institutions not only send but also accept students, teachers, inspectors and persons in charge of the educational facilities.