Location | Academics | Housing | Dates/Deadlines | Program Costs | Eligibility/How To Apply

NCSA Angers, France - Academic Year Programs

Location

Located in the western portion of the Loire Valley near the confluence of the Maine and the Loire rivers, Angers has been described as a "bright and radiant city." Within this ancient city are some of the most beautiful gardens in France, as well as the oldest and largest collection of medieval tapestries in the world (housed in the thirteenth century Château d'Angers). The arts in all forms-theater, dance, music, painting, and sculpture-are of major significance here. The region in which Angers is located is noted for the quality of its language; it is said, in fact, that the purest form of French is spoken here.

A city of more than 200,000 inhabitants, Angers abounds in green space. Although a pedestrian-friendly city with numerous downtown walking areas and suburban nature trails, Angers can claim an efficient and sprawling public transportation system. Sports and athletic facilities are also readily available in the city. Thirty thousand university students give Angers a youthful energy, and its educational and research institutes are the driving force behind the city's science and technological industries.

Most of all, Angers is known for its quality of life. From its 450,000 flowering plants, renowned wines, and diverse museums to its cobblestone streets that wind through historic neighborhoods, this is a city that is at once medieval and contemporary. While electronics, computer sciences, and the heavy truck industry form the basis of modern business in Angers today, the city's castle, cathedral, parks, gardens, and waterways create the alluring charm of the "most flowered city in Europe."

The program in Angers offers students the opportunity to experience France to the fullest-its people, its culture, and above all, its language. CIDEF courses are tailored to international students, with field trips and academic excursions providing a French learning opportunity that goes beyond the pages of a textbook. Living with a French family enhances the Angers immersion experience.

University Profile: Universit‚ Catholique de L'Ouest

Students attend classes at Le Centre International d'Etudes Françaises (commonly known as CIDEF) on the campus of the Université Catholique de L'Ouest, located in downtown Angers. The center welcomes approximately 500 students each semester. Established more than fifty years ago, CIDEF enjoys an excellent reputation for its language study. The university buildings, used by both the foreign students and 11,000 French students, are only a fifteen-minute walk from downtown and the university restaurant. Classes range from ten to thirty students. CIDEF's sixty faculty members have vast expertise in teaching language and culture courses to foreign students and provide a quality, comprehensive program.

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Academic Departments

Academic Program

The Angers program is ideal for French majors and minors, although the curriculum in history, sociology, political science, and French culture and civilization will also appeal to and meet the needs of students from a variety of disciplines.

The Angers program is fitting for students from both quarter and semester universities. Students have the option of enrolling in the program for a fall quarter, a fall semester, a spring semester, or a full academic year. Summer sessions are also available, and vary considerably from the other terms. Please refer to page eight for specific information regarding the summer program.

Students normally carry a course load of eighteen to twenty-one hours a week depending on their placement level. After an on-site placement test before classes begin, students register for courses that correspond with their appropriate level. While all students are required to take the "Langue" course (see page twelve), depending on their placement, students can choose additional course work from an extensive list of culture and language options offered by CIDEF.

In addition, a visiting professor from one of the member Northwest institutions accompanies the group on excursions and teaches a course specifically designed around Angers and the locale. The visiting faculty course is taught in French, unless otherwise noted, and is open to all NCSA students.

Multiple Term Options
Students may choose to participate in the Angers program for a fall quarter, a fall semester, a spring semester, or one or more of the summer sessions. With the approval of the student's enrolling institution and the on-site director, any combination of terms and program locations is possible.

Classes Offered

Fall Intensive Language Session

This four-week intensive language session (90 hours) is strongly recommended to all students applying to the fall quarter, fall semester, or academic year program. Fall Intensive can be taken along with summer programs, as an addition to the fall, or by itself as a language- intensive program.

Like the July and August summer programs, the Fall Intensive program offers language courses at beginning, elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels, with no prior language required. As in the July and August programs, the language course ranges from 20 to 23 hours per week. The following courses are mandatory during Fall Intensive:

• Langue
• Conversation
• Laboratoire
• Enquête*
• Civilisation*
• Compréhension Orale**

*not available at the beginning and elementary levels
**available only at the beginning and elementary levels

Fall Intensive students have the option to take the following course in addition to language instruction. If chosen, students will register and pay CIDEF upon arrival. (A minimum of ten students is necessary for the course to take place.)

• Analysis of Literature
  9 hrs, 75 Euros
  Students can expect the same options for accommodations during the Fall Intensive program as are offered during the July and August programs.

Fall Quarter

• Kings, Lords, and Lordship in Western Medieval France, 900-1200
  Fall only
  John Ott, Ph.D., department of history, Portland State University
  Taught in English
  Medieval France, including the principalities and kingdoms of Anjou, Normandy, Brittany, and the Touraine, was dominated by aristocratic lords. Kingdoms and monarchs, bishops and nobles were commemorated in medieval literature for their deeds-good and wicked. This course examines the development of powerful regional lordships, and the parallel growth of the French monarchy, in the period from 900-1200 C.E. (roughly, from the decline of the Carolingian dynasty to the ascension of a centralized monarchy under Philippe-Auguste). Using chronicles, biographies, and diplomatic evidence, we will examine the histories created for, by, and of the lords of central France and Normandy.

Spring Semester

• Medieval Spaces, Romantic Places
  Spring only
  Barbara Altmann Ph.D., department of romance languages, University of Oregon
  Taught in English and French
  The Middle Ages are alive and well in Angers and its surroundings. This course will introduce students to some of the masterpieces of French medieval romance from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and will investigate how those stories use space. We will look at interior and exterior spaces, public and private, imaginary and real. Field trips will connect the literary world with the urban and rural fabric of Anjou through visits to castles, religious buildings, town houses and collections of art and artifacts. Students need not be specialists in literature or the Middle Ages to take this course.

LANGUAGE COURSES: Fall and Spring

• French "Langue" Course
  Mandatory
  This course covers a variety of skills, including oral comprehension, written expression, oral expression, grammar, and vocabulary.
• French Language Options
  The French language option courses usually consist of 3 contact hours per week. These offer students the opportunity to further develop a language component of specific interest, and with specific content.
  • Oral Comprehension
  • Oral Expression
  • Written Expression
  • Grammar
  • All levels
• Business French
  Moyen 2e degré-supérieur
  Students acquire vocabulary, skills in business correspondence, and an understanding of French economic issues as presented in current periodicals.
• French Hotel and Tourism
  Moyen 2e degré
  Students prepare for the Certificat de Français du Tourisme through language study in the areas of tourism, the hotel business, and catering (foods and wine). Note: Only fall and spring semester students can take the Certificat exam.
• Colloquial French
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  Students learn the vocabulary of the "other" everyday spoken French through excerpts of novels, films, advertisements, and songs.
• Alliance Française Moyen 1er degré-supérieur
  This course is designed to prepare low intermediate to superior level students for the diplomas (two levels) awarded by the Alliance Française de Paris by improving students' language competencies.
• English-French Translation
  Moyen 2e degré-supécrierur
  Students in intermediate to superior levels improve their French through translation of contemporary texts, such as newspaper and magazine articles, into French.
• Phonetics: Theory and Practice
  All levels
  Students improve their spoken French through learning in class and practicing in the laboratory the pronunciation of sounds, rhythmic groups, intonation, and accentuation of words and sentences.

French Culture Options

The courses listed below are offered fall and spring terms, meet three hours per week unless otherwise noted, and are subject to change. They are offered at the intermediate (moyen 1er, 2e degrés) and advanced (moyen 3e degrés-supérieur) levels:

• Social-Cultural Study of France
  This course provides a profile of the French today by focusing on France's physical and human geography, its regional economies and traditions, the political system, the press, and the welfare system.
• History of France
  Today's France is predicated on yesterday's France. Students examine the country's past in order to explain the origins of the French nation.
• French Art History
  This course presents students with an overview of French art from its origins to the present. It examines the principal movements in modern art and pays particular attention to contemporary architecture and sculpture.
• French Socio-Economics
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  6 hours per week
  This course offers a broad analysis of French economic life today, examining French population and immigration, unemployment, the role of the state in the economy, and France's relative position in the European Union.
• The European Union in the World Today
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  24 hours per semester
  This course studies the historical antecedents of the European Union and examines some of the complex issues related to the construction of Europe, the demography of the European Union, and France's role in Europe.
• French Political Life under the Fifth Republic
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  In this class, students will learn about the birth of the Fifth Republic, as well as about the evolution of the institutional system, the political parties, and electoral participation during this era.
• French nineteenth Century Literature
  Fall only
  Moyen 2e degré, 3e degré-supérieur This course covers pre-romanticism, the nineteenth century novel, and poetry. In the intermediate class an anthology is used and one major novel is analyzed in greater detail. In the advanced class major literary works are read and discussed in their entirety.
• Cultural Anthropology
  Moyen 3e degré-supéérieur
  This course serves as an introduction to cultural anthropology. Conceived as a social science, cultural anthropology studies the beliefs and institutions that are fundamental to the social structures of human cultures. This course will allow students to acquire a mastery of the principal concepts and tools which will help them to construct an anthropological vision of life in society.
• French Twentieth Century Literature
  Spring only
  Moyen 2e degré, 3e degré-supérieur Discussion and readings focus on movements before 1914, surrealism, the major genres before and after World War II, existentialism, and the modern novel since 1960.
• History of French Music
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  This course emphasizes the modern period and musical evolution in Paris since 1800: nineteenth century French opera; French romanticism; the golden age of French symphonic composition; three turning points: Fauré, Debussy, Ravel; the Group of Six, and modern tendencies.
• French Philosophy
  Moyen 3e degré-supérieur
  The fall course focuses on the "structuralism" movement in the 1950s-60s that broke away from the traditional French philosophical concepts of man as defined by Descartes. In spring, essential ideas of French philosophy are analyzed through the works of three well-known twentieth century authors.

Academic Credit
Students attending any of the participating NCSA institutions receive home-campus credit. (See list of NCSA schools at the end of this brochure.) All non-consortium students will be directed to an enrolling institution and credit will be transferred to their home campus. AHA International facilitates these arrangements after an application form has been submitted. The enrolling institution determines the number of credits earned per course.

Excursions
Excursions to exciting cultural and historical sites in and around Angers are an integral part of the course work and are carefully planned to take advantage of the unique experiences found near the city. Excursions are included in the total cost of the program and are a great way to further explore France and its culture. These field trips usually include Normandy, Mont Saint Michel, Saint-Malo, and the Châteaux de la Loire, as well as the excursions related to the NCSA professor's course. The exact destinations vary from term to term and are determined at the beginning of each program.

On-Site Administration
Sue Crust, AHA International site director, is responsible for all day-to-day operations of the site, including coordinating excursions, housing, local transportation, and class scheduling. Dr. Crust has an MA and Ph.D. in college student services administration and an MA in French. In 1985-86, she was a student at Centre International d'Etudes Françaises and recently returned to Angers to work with AHA International. Her organizational skills, enthusiasm for the French culture and language, and her close connections with the CIDEF staff and faculty, make this a very positive environment.

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Housing

Fall and spring students in Angers are housed as paying guests individually or with other students in private homes, where they take breakfast and three dinners per week. Lunches and other dinners are taken at the university restaurant and local cafés. (See page eight for information specific to the summer sessions.) Hosts may live in Angers or in nearby suburbs, which are served by the city bus system. Many students regard their homestays as the most rewarding aspect of their foreign study experience.

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Program Dates & Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester: (September 29, 2008 - February 1, 2009)
  • Application Deadline: Deadline Extended- June 1, 2008
• Spring Semester: (February 2, 2009 - June 2, 2009)
  • Application Deadline: November 1
• Fall Quarter: (September 29, 2008 - December 20, 2008)
  • Application Deadline: Deadline Extended- June 1, 2008

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Program Costs

Program Fees:

• The program fee for the NCSA program in Angers, France is $10705

Program fees include:

• Tuition
• Housing
• Meals
• Predeparture and on-site orientation
• On-site and U.S. based staff support
• Insurance
• Local transportation pass
• Cultural activities
• International student ID card
• Course materials

Sample Program Budget

See our What Does It Cost page for more information on fees & deposits you may be responsible for.

Financial Aid

Most forms of financial aid and scholarships apply to the cost of study abroad programs. Students should consult with a financial aid counselor at their home campus for specific information about awards and eligibility. You can also visit our What Does it Cost web page.

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Eligibility

• Minimum GPA: 2.5
• Minimum Class Standing: Sophomore
• Language Requirement: 1 qtr. college level language or equiv.
• Other Info: Apply early - Program can fill before application deadline
• Good academic standing
• No current disciplinary record
• An interview may be required

How to Apply

Before you begin your application, we highly recommend that you see a study abroad advisor to ensure that you have all the information you need about program logistics and eligibility. CWU students can call 963-3622 or drop by the International Center, Room 101 (across from L&L), to schedule an appointment.

• Apply Here

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More Information

Prices and dates are subject to change without notice. Contact Study Abroad & Exchange Programs for more information.

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