AYA Paris at the Sorbonne

  France

• Paris: 
Paris

Term: Academic Year, Fall, Spring 
Dates: September-January, January-May

Description: AYA Paris offers semester/academic year study at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne/Paris IV (as well as other units of the Université de Paris) and the Institut Catholique. Classes are offered at all levels of study, and all courses (regular courses taken with Sorbonne students) are taught in French by regular university professors. Grades are accurately reported and transcripts are certified by the Sorbonne. AYA basic and housing fees are moderate. Students stay with Parisian families (home stay), and an impressive array of cultural activities is arranged by the Resident Director. There is an excursion to a site outside Paris (such as Mont Saint Michel or the Valleé de la Loire) each term. While AYA Paris students enjoy a high degree of freedom, they rely on the AYA Director in a multiplicity of ways: advising and tutoring; organizing excellent orientation sessions and language-reinforcement and specialized courses; acting on each student's behalf at the university; and seeing to the transmission of grades to the home institution. A former student described AYA Paris as extraordinary in providing a sort of 'protected freedom' for all participants.

Since its inception in 1960, the AYA Paris program has welcomed students from virtually every American college and university. In recent years the most prominent groups among AYA students have been those from Harvard, the University of California, and Yale, and from Bard, Ripon, and Catholic University, with which AYA maintains consortial agreements.

Highlights: Study at the Sorbonne or the Institut Catholique as well as other Parisian institutions. Excellent cultural activities and excursions. Home stays with families long connected with AYA. (This is AYA's 49th year in Paris.) A dedicated Resident Director whom students praise very highly.

Degree Level: Bachelors Degree (Undergraduate)

Cost in US$: $9000 - $9500

- Provision of all necessary documents for obtaining the French student visa.

- Pre-inscription and tuition at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), the Institute Catholique, the Cours de Civilisation (for intensive language study), and other Parisian universities such as Paris VII and Paris VIII, schools and institutes throughout Paris. (Tuition at private fine art, drama, dance, and music schools is included only for student majors in these fields.)

- Orientation held at the Foyer International des Etudiantes and led by the AYA Paris Director, including mini tours, tutorials and lectures led by noted scholars, grammar review, course placement and registration.

- The guidance and support of an experienced Resident Director.

- Academic guidance and tutoring throughout the semester or year (when requested).

- Official transcripts (including relevés de notes) and recommendations (when requested).

- Public transportation pass for unlimited travel within Paris.
    An extensive program of group activities occurring every one or two weeks, including:
    * Outings within Paris - students attend plays, concerts, visit a museum or an art gallery
    * Day-trips outside Paris - tours of Chartres, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Reims, Malmaison
    * Overnight excursions - weekend trip to the Vallée de la Loire and grands chateaux (Fall Term); weekend trip to Bayeux, the D-Day landing beaches at Normandy, and the magnificent Mont Saint Michel (Spring Term).

-Access to all Reid Hall facilities, such as the library, garden, lounge, piano (with permission), meeting rooms, and Wi-Fi.

   Thanksgiving dinner at the home of the AYA Paris Director.

The optional AYA Housing Fee ($5,700 per term) covers AYA-arranged housing in a French home and, as one option, includes breakfast and dinner every day except Sundays during the academic term, and room but not board during the Christmas and Easter holidays. All housing is contracted for the semester. Special dietary concerns may be accommodated with sufficient prior notice.

AYA students who do not wish to live with a host family are free to make their own housing arrangements in Paris.

Experience Required: yes

AYA Paris students must be residents of the US or Canada, or foreign students who are studying at American universities. In order to enroll in regular university courses in Paris, a student must have at least an intermediate knowledge of French (two university courses, or the equivalent). Alternatively, applicants who are beginners in French may enroll in a course in intensive language at the Cours de Civilisation Française at the Sorbonne. Generally, given European requirements, AYA does not accept applicants who are not college juniors. Under exceptional circumstances AYA occasionally accepts high school graduates to its Paris program for study at the Cours de Civilisation (intensive language instruction): the student must be 18 or over, must be emotionally and intellectually mature, have an excellent academic record, and must have been accepted to a recognized college or university (perhaps on a deferred basis).

Application Process Involves:

• Letters of Reference
• Physical Exam/Health Records
• Transcript
• Written Application

Post-Program Services Include:

• Alumni Network

Academic Year Abroad's Mission Statement: AYA is one of the oldest and most respected of study abroad programs. It is attentive to academic standards. AYA offers direct registration at several of the finest universities in Europe: the Université de Paris-Sorbonne and the Institut Catholique in Paris; the Universidad Carlos III, the Universidad Complutense, and the Universidad Autonoma in Madrid; and the Università degli Studi in Siena. AYA programs, intended for first-rate, independent students, provide guidance from experienced on-site directors, who see to tutoring, home stays, and cultural activities and excursions. For nearly half a century, AYA has represented the standard in overseas study.

Year Founded: 1960