The University of Western Ontario is expanding its partnership with the University of Tours in France through a new summer study abroad program beginning in the summer of 2010.
Western students participating in Kinesiology activity course bike trip in Touraine in May 2009 meet with University of Tours students.
Western students can take summer courses, taught in English, at the University of Tours for Western credit (subject to departmental approval) in a variety of disciplines in Social Science, Arts and Humanities and Music. They can also take French courses in Tours.
Western is offering financial assistance to cover part of the travel costs.
Tours is a modern city with a population of about 136,000, situated in the heart of the historic Touraine region, known for the châteaux where the royals would sojourn during the Renaissance. It is a one-hour train ride from Paris. Its university, the Université François-Rabelais de Tours, located in the downtown area, is a dynamic multidisciplinary centre of teaching and research with more than 20,000 students.
Western’s President Emeritus Paul Davenport now resides in Tours and is collaborating with French Studies Professor Jeff Tennant to launch the new program, which builds on an established partnership.
Western has had an exchange program with the University of Tours since 1997 and a total of 25 Canadian and French students have had the opportunity to cross the Atlantic to participate in it. In addition, the Faculty of Education has had a successful program for several years that twins B.Ed. students with counterparts in the Instituts Universitaires de Formation des Maîtres of Tours and the Centre region for an international experience in teacher training.
Tours has also been the home base for the annual Kinesiology Touraine Bike Tour (https://www.uwo.ca/pvp/loire_tour2009/), recently opened up to students from other faculties in addition to Kinesiology students. The 2010 trip will involve even more interaction than in the past between Western and Tours students.
The course “Europe in the Making: Understanding the History and Workings of Today’s European Institutions” gives students who have completed at least a year of university studies an overview of the European Union, with field trips to deepen their insight. A series of courses in the program “Renaissance and the Invention of Modern Europe” (prerequisite: at least two years of university study) allows students to explore specific aspects of European history and culture in the Renaissance period.
Students taking one of these courses can also take an optional French language course. Or, students can choose to travel to France to work on their French by taking a three-week language course offered by the Institut de Touraine, for a Western French credit.
Financial assistance is available to Western students participating in the program ($500 toward travel costs for the first 20 students to register).
Information meeting
An information meeting will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 4:30 p.m., in University College Room 138A. All interested students are encouraged to attend. Information about the new program can be found on the Department of French Studies website: https://www.uwo.ca/french/summertours.html