Mont-de-Marsan: No School struggles to find students

The Bordeaux higher education institution is opening a campus in Mont-de-Marsan. But just a few weeks before the start of the academic year, it has only attracted "around forty students," far from the hundred or so hoped for.

On its Mons campus, the Bordeaux business school No School hoped to attract between "80 and 100" students for its first intake in the Landes region, scheduled for September ^1, 2025. And even 300 by 2027.

The school has launched a number of communication campaigns to inform the public of its upcoming arrival in the Landes prefecture. During the Fêtes de la Madeleine, it was not uncommon to see No School's mascot, "NoDuck" (a large yellow duck), in the streets of Le Moun, distributing small gifts to locals. Last March, influencer Jeremstar, with 2 million Snapchat followers, visited Mont-de-Marsan to present the business school's future Landes branch to his community on social media.

Despite this, the school, which offers post-baccalaureate work-study programs (from BTS to Master's degrees), is struggling to recruit students for the start of the school year. "We only have around forty students enrolled and placed in companies a month before the start of the school year. We are short of kids (sic) and still have positions to fill in companies in the Landes region," says Sophie Goutaille, associate director of No School. The business school still hopes to attract around twenty additional students to reach "60 or 70 students" by September ¹ , the scheduled start date of classes (1).

For their first day of school, the Mons students will be welcomed at 4, rue des Remparts, in premises "of approximately 1,500 square meters," opposite the Square des Anciens combattants. This is a temporary address, as the school will take the place of the former Le Royal cinema, located on rue du Maréchal-Bosquet, once the renovation work is completed, "between October 2026 and January 2027."

Formerly IF2E, renamed No School in 2019, the establishment focuses on an operation that aims to be different from "diploma factories", by emphasizing the support of its students and the development of "soft skills".

"Soft skills encompass all those skills that are not usually taught: self-confidence, adaptability, empathy, time management, communication," the school's website states. "At No School, we have decided to put these skills at the heart of our project, from Bac + 2 to Bac + 5."

For the start of the 2025 school year, the 1,400 students of No School in Bordeaux, and those of the Mons branch, are therefore invited to a "soft skills week" at the Arena in Floirac (Gironde), where they will be able to interact with several personalities invited for the occasion.

(1) During this month of August, the offices at 32, rue Léon-Gambetta are open to answer questions from the public.