Organizers of the study abroad program at the University of Tours, France are looking for students interested in taking courses in Social Science, Arts and Humanities and Music this summer.
Students taking the courses, which are taught in English, will receive credit from The University of Western Ontario (subject to departmental approval for each student). French language courses are also offered.
An information session was held Jan. 20 to inform the community about the new program.
There is strong interest in the French language courses, and French professor Jeff Tennant says there is still room for students to apply for courses offered in English.
Tennant is helping to co-ordinate the new study abroad program with Western President Emeritus Paul Davenport, who resides in Tours.
Courses on Shakespeare, the Renaissance, European history, and contemporary European institutions are among the offerings for which Western equivalent credits have been approved in Political Science, History, Visual Arts History, Music History, and Comparative Literature and Culture.
In coming weeks, Tennant is going to work with respective faculties to promote the program. The deadline for consideration for the program and a $500 travel bursary is Monday, March 8.
“It’s a great opportunity for a short academic experience abroad. It’s in a region of France that is very picturesque and very historical, only an hour’s train ride from Paris,” he notes. “The courses offered are all of very high quality.”
Students can stay off-campus in a home for a complete immersion experience, or take a room in residence.
“Arts and Humanities students can really experience first-hand the value of the analytical, linguistic, research, and aesthetic-inquiry and appreciation skills they are developing here at Western when they are immersed in travelling to and living in a culture different from their own – even if the language of instruction or of the country they are studying in is the same as the language at home,” says Faculty of Arts and Humanities Dean Donna Pennee.
“Studying abroad gives you a new perspective on your home culture when you return as well,” she adds.
The courses taught in English, such as the Renaissance and the Making of Modern Europe, allow students to get “up close and personal” with European architecture and art work, she explains.
As well, having the unique opportunity to sit at the table of European Union governance will give students a better understanding of political philosophy.
Immersion in a French-speaking environment will accelerate and motivate the academic success of French Studies’ students, she says.
Pennee hopes the experience will spark a desire among students to continue studying French or other languages at Western.
“The possibilities are endless at the level of intellectual engagement and opportunity,” she says. “The challenges are to get all of our programs, not just in Arts and Humanities, to realize the value of studying abroad, even when what is studied is not directly in one’s discipline.
“We need to find ways to enable kinds of learning that are not at first glance relevant, or useful to learning in that discipline, to also count towards their degree, and not simply as an unrelated elective.”
For more information, visit: www.uwo.ca/french/summertours.html.
