Why not go to France? All Canadians have learned a little French and all French people understand a good bit of English, so you can get by. France is a country known for its history, culture and scenery, as well as for the quality of its Engineering education.
The first place to visit is Paris. Who wouldn’t want to enjoy the vibrant life of the left bank, or see the famous works in the Louvre and other museums, stroll around the Arc de Triomphe, or cruise on the Seine, or so much more? You can do all this while spending an exchange term (or two) at Ecole Centrale de Paris (ECP), one of our partner institutions.
If you’d prefer to live in a small town, just 60 Km. north of Paris, choose Compiègne. This medieval city was the location of the hunting palace of the Kings of France, on the edge of the Forêt de Compiègne, where you can enjoy nature on its many sentiers (trails). Compiègne has a long history; it is the city where Joan of Arc was captured; it is also the place where the armistice ending the First World War was signed at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918. The Technical University of Compiègne (UTC) is the oldest of our French exchange partners and is a great place to study. It’s also not far from Charles de Gaulle airport, very convenient for travel while you’re in Europe.
Maybe you like mountains. If so, Grenoble’s the place for you –Grenoble likes to be known as the Capital of the Alps. It is surrounded by mountains, great for skiing and snowboarding, but is also a centre for the chemical, electronics and nuclear industries. It’s worth a term’s study at INPG, the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble. You can reach other cities easily, just hop on the TGV (train de grande vitesse) bullet train, North to Paris, or Soouot and East to Marseille, Italy and distant places like Istanbul.
Another choice is Lyon. When you live there you’ll be in France’s second city, close to the Alps but also easily accessible to Geneva, Switzerland and Paris. The greater Lyon area is just a little smaller than the GTA in population. Lyon is a UNESCO world heritage site. It has (according to Wikipedia) developed a reputation as the capital of gastronomy in France. You can eat well there. It is also a major centre for the chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech industries. The city contains a significant software industry with a particular focus on video games (Wikipedia). We have two exchange partners in Lyon, both occupying the same campus. The first is INSA Lyon (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon), the largest of a special group of six highly-regarded engineering schools distributed throughout the country. The second is Ecole Supérieure de Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon (CPE de Lyon). CPE de Lyon is smaller and more specialized than INSA Lyon, but its name, Ecole Supérieure, tells you that it is highly regarded in the French Engineering education system. We have negotiated a special arrangement with CPE de Lyon that enables UW Engineers, who have done a two-term exchange there, to return after 4B and, in just one year, obtain the “Master” degree, which is somewhat equivalent to UW’s MEng (professional Master’s). It’s worth looking into.
Another really interesting place is Toulouse, in the south of France. It is the center of the French Aerospace industry, the HQ of Airbus and the location of the Toulouse Space Centre, the third largest in Europe. Our exchange partner, INSA Toulouse (in the same group as INSA Lyon), is also part of a consortium of institutions of higher education which make up the third largest university in France, and one of the oldest in Europe. Toulouse is near both the Mediterranean Sea and the Pyrenees, some of the highest mountains in France.
If you’re not attracted to the south, you could consider living for four to eight months in Metz, near to Luxembourg and to the Rhine valley. The town was much fought over in the Franco-Prussian war (1871), World War 1, and World War 2, and is located on the Moselle River. Our exchange partner in Metz is Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Metz (ENIM), one of a national group of engineering schools, known as the ENI’s. ENIM’s campus is somewhat like UW’s in that it is bounded by a ring, not a road as here, but a river. The campus is on an island which gives it a feeling of isolation, but it is quite near the centre of the city.
Space doesn’t let me talk about all the exchange opportunities in France; after your exchange there, you’ll come back fully fluent and bilingual in our two official languages. Your high-school French will have gone, first enhanced by an intensive language course at our partner school, and then deepened by living in France. All fear of a foreign language will have vanished, and you will have one more asset beyond the advantage of being a UW engineer.
You can study in France, become completely bilingual, broaden your knowledge of the world, and do all this without compromising your degree program at Waterloo. For details, get in touch with the Engineering Exchange Office. It’s on the ground floor of CPH, room 1320, probably on your way to the Engineering C & D. The first step to get yourself on the list for one of our exchange programs is to get in touch with Cindy Howe; send her an email (cindy@uwaterloo.ca) or sign up in the office for an appointment.
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Peter H. Roe,
Director of Exchange Programs
Faculty of Engineering
CPH 1320
ext. 35175
phoroe@uwaterloo.ca
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