The Institute of French Language and Culture (IFLC) was founded in 1892 under the name "Séminaire de français moderne", an institute of the Faculty of Arts of Neuchâtel University. It is specialized in the teaching of French as a foreign language as well as French literature and culture.

IFLC is to be found in a historical building in the centre of town near the main building of the University, just by the lake. As it is near to the station and the town centre, it can easily be reached on foot or by public transport.

Thanks to a tradition of teaching, which goes back to the 18th Century, IFLC applies proven academic methods in a modern setting: a multimedia laboratory, a library, study rooms and a cafeteria. It is no doubt one of the reasons for the renown of the French spoken in Neuchâtel, which is still considered as the best in French-speaking Switzerland.

IFLC welcomes about 120 students every year from other linguistic regions of Switzerland as well as from forty different nations worldwide. They come to the IFLC with very diverse intentions and motivations.
 

Advantages of studying French at the IFLC of Neuchâtel are numerous. Firstly, you will be in a friendly town of a little more than 30,000 inhabitants (60,000 with the surrounding area). Neuchâtel is full of  history, it lies on the shores of a lake at 430 metres altitude between the Jura Mountains and the Alps. It is one of the main towns in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, also called Suisse Romande. This region represents 20% of the whole population, the other national languages are German (65%), Italian and Romansh.

You can also find in Neuchâtel:

• wonderful archaeological buildings and sites such as the Romanesque and Gothic Collegiate Church, the mediaeval Castle, the "Les Halles" house (16th Century) and the "Hotel DuPeyrou" (18th Century);-the old Library which holds several manuscripts by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who fled to this region in the years 1762 to 1765;
• a concert hall, a theatre, and the noteworthy museums of Fine Arts, of Archaeology and of Ethnology;
• the birthplace of watchmaking, from the Neuchâtel clock to prestigious watches; The International Watch Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds is renown;
• an ultra-modern Centre for Electronic and Micro-technical  Research.

Several famous people came from this area: the naturalist Louis Agassiz; the writers Blaise Cendrars and Denis de Rougemont; the car designer Louis Chevrolet; the architect Le Corbusier; the psychologist Jean Piaget, and it was the town of adoption of the playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt, who spent the last forty years of his life here.

Neuchâtel is forty minutes by train from Bern, the capital, less than two hours away from Geneva or Zurich airports and about four hours by TGV from Paris. It is also very easy to get to other well-known foreign cities.

Neuchâtel is surrounded with forests, its countryside and vineyards offering numerous walks. Almost every summer as well as winter outside sport can be done in this region.