Toulouse

Location:

Toulouse is the capital of the Midi-Pyrenees region and is located on the banks of the Garonne river.

Presentation:

Ideally situated in the heart of Southern France, between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, the cosmopolitan and enthusiastic Ville Rose joyously mixes heritage and lifestyle, great cultural events and festival pleasures. Toulouse is an absolute must for everyone wanting to explore France. At once both modern and proud of the legacy of its past, open and radiant, you are bound to be seduced by the incomparable Toulousain lifestyle, coupled with the wealth of its cultural heritage. 

Economy:

• Population: 435,000 inhabitants
• Density: 3,644 inhabitants/sq km
• The region encounters exceptionnally dynamic population growth, with a growth rate that has double in comparison with the national average for the past 6 years.
• Aviation industry is an essential part of the Toulouse economy (Toulouse is the home city of Airbus Industrie) but is by no means the only high tech industry located there.
• The city has become Europe's leading space centre with CNES (French Space Agency), Matra Marconi Space, Alcatel Space Industry and Spot Image among o thers, all with their head offices around Toulouse.
• Toulouse-Blagnac airport is the 5th largest passenger traffic airport in France.
• Toulouse, popularly referred as "the pink city", is one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in France.

University:

During the school year 2005-2006, Toulouse included 97 000 students. It is the third student city of France after Paris and Lyon.
The University of Toulouse was founded in 1229. Three university poles which succeeded it are the Toulouse I university - Social sciences (UT1 - Toulouse I), the university of Toulouse Mirail (UTM - Toulouse II) and the Paul-Sabatier university (UPS - Toulouse III).The last one is the biggest University of Toulouse, the second of Province, with 28 056 students . 
In these three poles is added the INPT (Polytechnic National Institute of Toulouse) which has the status of university.

Toulouse also possesses several University-level colleges specializing in professional training in the aeronautics as the ISAE (Higher institute of the Aeronautics and the Space), the ENAC (national School of the civil aviation) or as the IPSA (polytechnic Institute of the advanced sciences), but also in meteorology as the ENM (national School of the meteorology) and on the land registry with the national school of the land registry and the finally diverse schools more non-specialized as the INSA (national Institute of applied sciences),the ICAM (catholic Institute of the arts and the professions) and the IST (Higher institute of technology), the ENSEEIHT (superior national School of electrotechnics, electronics, computing, hydraulics and telecommunications), the ISEG (European higher institute of management).

Easy Access:

- By plane: Aer Lingus provides a non- stop flight service from Dublin airport to Toulouse airport.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, BMI, British Airways and Lufthansa all provide a one-stop flight service from Dublin Airport to Toulouse airport 
- By train: Toulouse Matabiau SNCF railway station is in the city centre.
- By car: Toulouse is only 20min from the Toulouse International Airport
                Motorways: A61, A62, A64, A66, A68