Courses & Seminars

Introduction
French University Courses
Courses Taken at Parisian Universities and other institutions in the past few years
VWPP Seminars at Reid Hall

Introduction

Our academic program is designed to achieve three objectives. First, because we want students from all disciplines, whether they are majors in biology, history, literature, or any other field, to be able to spend a year or a semester in Paris, we provide students with access to a broad academic program offering courses in a variety of fields. Students should discuss their projected program with their advisor before they leave the United States, but they probably can take at least one course in Paris that will count towards their major(s).

Second, because we think students can learn a great deal about French people and the French educational system from taking courses at a French university, we encourage students to take two university courses, and have agreements with a number of Parisian institutions to enable our students to do so. These courses are valuable not only for their academic content, but also for the opportunity they afford students to participate in a different educational system.

Third, because Vassar and Wesleyan students often prefer seminar-size classes to some of the larger classes they might find in the French university system, and because French universities do not offer some of the kinds of courses on French civilization and culture that our students want to take while in Paris, we organize seminars each semester on French politics, history, art history, film, literature, and theater. Taught by outstanding French professors, these seminars are conducted entirely in French and provide students with the kind of close student-teacher contact associated with a Vassar or Wesleyan education. Many of these seminars include on-site lectures at museums and monuments, and visits to governmental institutions, concerts, films, opera, and theater performances.

Students plan their academic program in consultation with the resident director, who is a member of the Vassar or Wesleyan faculty and serves as the academic advisor for all students during their time in Paris.

The academic program includes writing-intensive courses, seminars organized at Reid Hall, and French university courses. Students typically enroll in four courses. All students must take a writing-intensive course, and they usually take one or two university courses. The other course(s) may be chosen from the French university, or the VWPP seminars, workshops, and studio art offerings.

Concurrently, all students are required to attend a weekly individual French tutoring session at Reid Hall. These “tutorats” provide added support for students’ French academic work and oral and written skills in the language.

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French University Courses

Up until 1968, there was a single Parisian university, commonly known as the Sorbonne. After 1968, in response to student demands, the University of Paris was split into a number of separate universities, each with its own set of programs. The university Paris-Panthéon-Assas, for example, is the law school; the university Paris-Descartes was the medical school. The original “Sorbonne” is thus split into several independent institutions and is no longer centralized in one location. Several UFR (roughly equivalent to academic departments in the US) especially at the Université Paris Sorbonne are located in different arrondissements of Paris (for example, Philosophy and History for the 1^st and 2^nd years Licence is located in the 18^th arrondissment near the Porte de Clignancourt). In order to provide students with a comprehensive set of course choices, the VWPP has agreements with three of the above-mentioned universities—the Sorbonne Nouvelle, the Sorbonne University and Paris Cité— along with the Collège International de Philosophie, that permit program students to take courses there. The VWPP has also an agreement with UPEC (Université Paris Est Créteil) which is easily reachable with the line number 8 of the subway in Paris.

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Courses taken at Universities and other institutions in the last few years:

Cinéma :

• Esthétique du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel : le décor et le costume au cinéma
  
• La mise en scène du son
  
• Figurer les émotions : représentations du pathos au cinéma
  
• Écritures cinématographiques – cinéma, peinture, musique
  
• Cinémas de non-fiction (Panorama du cinéma expérimental)
  

Géographie :

• Géographie urbaine et rurale
  
• La métropolisation, entre local et global
  
• Instruments de l’aménagement (dessin/infographie)
  

Histoire :

• Le communisme dans les états et les sociétés en Europe au 20ème siècle
  
• Histoire de l’Europe centrale et orientale
  
• Colonisation décolonisation 19ème-20ème siècle
  
• Histoire des Amériques noires
  
• Les sociétés de l’Afrique subsahariennes au 19ème-21ème siècle : approches par les sources (documentaires, orales…)
  
• Politiques, cultures et sociétés en e
  
• Europe, 19ème-20ème siècle
  

Philosophie :

• Philosophie générale
  
• Temporalité
  

Histoire de l’Art et Archéologie :