It was enlarged in 1229 by an influx of students, many of them Englishmen, from the University of Paris, who sought in Angers a shelter from the direct control of the King of France.

After the National Assembly had granted to all freedom of teaching (July 1, 1875), the French bishops decided to found five Catholic universities, and Angers, thanks to Bishop Charles Émile Freppel, was chosen for the western portion of France, including the Dioceses of Angers, Rennes, Laval, Le Mans, Angoulême, Tours and Poitiers.

[3] In 1990, under the authority of l'Université Catholique d'Angers, the Catholic Institute of Higher Studies - ICES was opened in La Roche-sur-Yon.

After three years of collaboration, the Superior Council of the Catholic University of the West awarded ICES its academic independence in 1993.

François Garnier, Bishop of Luçon, became the institutional head of the establishment with the responsibility of maintaining its ecclesiastical membership.