Angers, France

 
Study In Angers at l'Université Catholique de l'Ouest

Semester/Academic Year:

Exchange with  l'Université Catholique de l'Ouest

 UNCA students can spend one or two semesters fully enrolled at the Angers campus, paying tuition and fees to UNCA and room and board costs in France.  UNCA will arrange for such students to be sponsored by a family in Saumur, Asheville's Sister City, with the possibility of spending weekends or other times in a home environment.  This is an exciting opportunity for UNCA students to take a full schedule of courses in a lovely academic setting in an important urban center in western France rich in historical treasures.  L'UCO, an institution of more than 10,000 students, offers a full range of programs in humanities, performing arts, natural and social sciences, and education.

Fact Sheet includes dates for 2009-10 and estimated costs

You can check out their website here.

Angers:

It is a city also renowned for its quality of life.  The old historic sections of the city are interwoven with the new vibrant businesses which are located in the region.

Students will find the arts (music, visual arts, dance and theater) alive in the Angers region.  Often described as the "bright and radiant city," the city abounds with white walls, vivid flower gardens, and a lively intellectual life.

Outdoor life is readily available.  The many hiking trails, bike paths, and horseback-riding trails offer a first-hand communion with the local landscape and cityscape.  Windsurfing, sailing, tennis and other sports are also enjoyed by the many sports enthusiasts in the area.

For students who wish to spend their hours with the arts, the Chateau d'Angers, built in the 13th century, houses one of the largest collections of medieval tapestries in Europe.  The Apocalypse tapestry, one of the most famous of  medieval tapestries, is also one of the largest ever woven in the Middle Ages.  Textile arts, paintings in the local museums, the varied regional architecture, and the unlimited vistas for the studio artist will provide many hours of enjoyment and enrichment for the art enthusiast.

Internship in Saumur:

UNCA students of all majors have the opportunity to spend time in Saumur doing an internship, lodging with a family and working in a local enterprise or institution to complete a project sanctioned by the UNCA academic department to which the project relates.  A typical internship might be four to six weeks long and focus on a topic related to the student's major:  e.g., how a small municipality is coping with European Community bureaucracy; how manuscripts and archaeological remains influence historic restoration; how the region is battling marine pollution in the Loire and tributaries; how a high-tech industry is adapting American business methods to a European workplace.

Students should have skills in French equal to those possessed by students completing the 200-level sequence at UNCA, and/or they can enroll prior to their time in Saumur at the Centre International d'Etudes Françaises at l'Université Catholique de l'Ouest in Angers, less than a half hour by train or car west of Saumur.  This internationally recognized center for intensive French studies offers semester-long programs during the school year, and three one-month sessions during July, August, and September, to develop communication skills rapidly.  Fees are reasonable; at current exchange rates, less than $700 for a month's tuition and less than $800 for a month's complete room and board with a family.

Saumur:

Saumur is the "Sister City of Asheville".  Saumur is a picturesque and historic small city in the verdant Loire valley.  Since 1996 contacts between the two cities have flourished, and UNCA is an integral part of this blossoming.  Saumur is dominated by one of the most celebrated chateaux of the region, is a wine-producing and mushroom-growing center, is the home of France's National Equestrian School and the army's cavalry (artillery) officers' school, as well as the renowned Cadre Noir, the army equestrian drill team, and home to high-tech industry (Lucent Technologies), as well as many crafts (jewelry, masks, medallions, stonemasonry, and monumental sculpture).  It is a center for the Compagnons de France, journeymen who become masters of the skills involved in restoring historical monuments, and has a state-of-the-art restaurant-hotel school which draws on its centuries-old culinary and viticultural traditions.

For Further Information, Contact:

Dr. Cathy Pons PhD
Department of Foreign Languages
243 New Hall
Phone:  (828) 232-2440
cpons@unca.edu

Pierrick Picot & Béatrice Bernard