NSE home > Practical Information > NSE-Specific Details
NSE-Specific Details
What You Need to Know When Arriving in Lyon as an NSE student
When we welcome our new students in September, we will of course organize a day of orientation to provide the students with all information that is necessary to complete the administrative procedures and to begin their coursework. We have collected some of this information here for reference and also to give prospective students an impression of what they can expect. If you should have any further questions or suggestions for improvement, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
École Centrale de Lyon
The
École Centrale de Lyon is located in Ecully, a western suburb of Lyon. The ECL campus has its own bus stop, "Campus Lyon Ouest," which is served by four bus lines:
- Bus 3 connects the campus to the Gorge de Loup station of subway line D,
- bus 4 shuttles between the Gare de Vaise station of subway line D and the ECL campus during the morning and afternoon rush hours on weekdays,
- bus 55 links the ECL to the Perrache station of subway line A, and
- bus PL3 ("pleine lune" = "full moon") is a night bus that takes you from the center of Lyon (Hôtel de Ville) to the École Centrale. It runs at 1, 2, 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning during nights from Thursday to Friday, Friday to Saturday, and Saturday to Sunday, as well as in the nights before public holidays.
You can find further
travel information and
campus maps (
PDF) on the website of the ECL; the
Lyon Institute of Nanotechnology (INL) is the building labeled "F7" on the campus map.
INSA de Lyon and Université Claude Bernard - Lyon 1
The INSA and the UCBL are both located on the La Doua campus in Villeurbanne, in the north-east of Lyon. The La Doua campus is serviced by:
- Tramway lines T1 and T4 connect the La Doua campus to the Charpennes station of subway lines A and B. Two adjacent stops of the T1/T4, "Université Lyon 1" and "La Doua - Gaston Berger" take you right to UCBL and INSA, respectively.
- Bus C17 also links the Charpennes metro station to the campus, stop "INSA Einstein".
- Bus 69 runs from the Sans Souci station of subway line D via the center of Villeurbanne to the stop "Condorcet" at the south-west edge of La Doua.
- The night bus PL1 ("pleine lune" = "full moon") takes you from the center of Lyon (Place des Terreaux) to "La Doua - INSA". It runs at 1, 2, 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning during nights from Thursday to Friday, Friday to Saturday, and Saturday to Sunday, as well as in the nights before public holidays.
You can find
PDF maps and a
click-zoom campus plan on the website of the UCBL.
Arriving in Lyon
Lyon has an extended network of public transportation that will take your from the airport or the main trains station to your accommodation on the ECL or La Doua campus; see the
TCL website (in French, English, Spanish, and Italian) for further information. To assist you with finding your way around, we have outlined the route to the two campuses below. You may want to print the following documents and take them along with you:
- a map of metro, tramway, and main bus lines (PDF),
- timetables of the T1 (PDF) and T4 tramway lines (PDF), which run between Charpennes (metro A and B) and the La Doua campus,
- information on bus line 3 (PDF), which connects the ECL campus to the Gorge de Loup station of metro D, and
- 3D plans of the Charpennes (PDF), Gorge de Loup (PDF), Part Dieu (PDF) and Perrache (PDF) stations, which will help you when you have to change lines. (See here for access to all the maps on the TCL website.)
How to get from the airport to the ECL campus
The
rhônexpress is a high-speed tram line connecting Lyon's
Saint Exupéry airport to the city. The station of the rhônexpress can be reached via a footbridge located between terminals 1 and 2; follow the red signs with the white "rhônexpress" label into the railway station. Leave the station by the main exit and take the stairs or escalators that are on the outside right next on the left and right side of the doors. It takes about 7 minutes walking from terminals 1 and 2 to get to the rhônexpress platform and 10 minutes from terminal 3. Tickets for the rhônexpress can be bought at vending machines in the airport or via the
rhônexpress website.
Take the rhônexpress until "Vaulx-en-Velin - La Soie", then change to metro line A, direction "Perrache". Metro tickets can be bought at the vending machines in the metro stations for about 1.60€. These tickets are valid for all means of public transport in the greater Lyon area (metro, tramway, bus) for the duration of 1 hour after they have first been validated; during that time you can change lines as many times as you want, but you are required to re-validate the ticket each time you change transport (except when changing from one metro line to another). Tickets are validated by inserting them into the small slots at the metro entry barriers or the boxes close to the doors of buses and trams.
Stay in metro line A until the stop "Bellecour", then change to metro line D, direction "Gare de Vaise", to get to the station "Gorge de Loup". Once you are in the Gorge de Loup station, follow the signs "bus - gare routière" and turn right immediately after you leave the building. Go up the stairs outside to find bus 3, direction "Dardilly le Jubin / Limonest Le Puy d'Or", which will take you to directly to "Campus Lyon Ouest".
How to get from the airport to the La Doua campus
Take the rhônexpress until "Vaulx-en-Velin - La Soie", then change to metro line A, direction "Perrache" (see above for details). Stay in the metro until "Charpennes", then change to tramway T1, direction "IUT Feyssine" or tramway T4, direction "La Doua - Gaston Berger". When you come up from the metro you will be on the south side of place Charles Hernu; the tramway stop is on the north side of this square. Depending on where on the campus your accommodation is, get off the tramway at "Université Lyon 1" or "La Doua - Gaston Berger" (see above for a link to a campus map).
How to get from the Part-Dieu railway station to the ECL campus
Take metro line B, direction "Stade de Gerland", until the stop "Saxe-Gambetta". Change to metro line D, direction "Gare de Vaise", to get to the station "Gorge de Loup". Take bus 3, direction "Dardilly le Jubin / Limonest Le Puy d'Or", which will take you to directly to "Campus Lyon Ouest".
How to get from the Part-Dieu railway station to the La Doua campus
Take metro line B, direction "Charpennes", until its final stop "Charpennes". Change to tramway T1, direction "IUT-Feyssine" or tramway T4, direction "La Doua - Gaston Berger", and get off at "Université Lyon 1" or "La Doua - Gaston Berger".
Enrollment as a Student
The fact that our Master is conducted by a consortium of three institutions allows us to combine our educational resources and technological infrastructure to provide our students with the best possible theoretical and practical training. Each student has his/her a primary enrollment at one of the partners and is furthermore registered pro-forma (without payment of additional fees) at the other two institutions, in order to have access to all facilities.
The annual student fee amounts to about
500 €, which is the standard rate for a Master in France and includes the mandatory health insurance. Students from
EEA countries may benefit from a reduction because their health care premiums are subsidized by the French government. (An overview of the health care system for students can be found in the section dealing with
studying in France in general.)