Monthly Archives: July 2013

Kent Law School runs first ever Paris summer programme

Inspired by the University’s first ever Paris summer school in June with dedicated University-funded 50th anniversary scholarships, the Kent Law School decided to run its own programme this summer from 22-26 July 2013.

The week long programme was organised to prepare 15 new LLM students for their upcoming postgraduate studies. Participants, who came from the UK, America, Jamaica and Nigeria, were based at the University’s Paris facilities at Reid Hall in the Montparnasse district of Paris.

Lectures focussed on international criminal justice; law, arts and colonialism; environmental law; criminal justice; international commercial law; the French legal system and comparative law. To complement their learning, students also visited the Musée du Quai Branly and were given a tour of the main law libraries in Paris by Professor Geoffrey Samuel, an expert in French law.  

Dr Vicky Conway, Kent Law School Senior Lecturer and Director of the Pre-LLM programme said:

Our first ever Kent Law School Paris Summer Programme has been a great success and we would love to repeat it in the future. Being able to use the University’s facilities in Paris presents a wonderful opportunity for both students and staff to learn and teach in a new environment. Living and studying abroad, if only for a short time, certainly enhances the students’ experience and improves their confidence

Paris Summer School Lecturer presents student views of a museum trip at conference

Just over a week ago, Dr Sophia Labadi, Lecturer of Heritage at the University of Kent’s School of European Culture Languages, Director of the Centre for Heritage, and recent speaker at the summer school at the University of Kent, Paris spoke about her research on the Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration in Paris.

This museum featured in the Paris summer school programme following Dr Labadi’s session on ‘Immigration and integration’.

Dr Labadi, an expert in heritage and former UNESCO employee, concluded through her research that this museum is essentially ineffective in its aims to represent France’s immigrant population.

During the trip to the museum, summer school students were asked to consider and discuss Dr Labadi’s conclusions, making their own critical assessment of the museum based on their own impressions as visitors.

The conference ‘Memory Matters: African diaspora heritage’ on 20th July at the University of East London, organised by the University of Kent and the Congolese Refugee group discussed ‘historical, cultural and postcolonial connections and disconnections between the UK, the Congo and beyond’ . There were speakers from the Congolese community, youth activists, academics, artists and project members/volunteers.

Dr Labadi told us:

When I presented my work on the cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration at the conference I talked about some of the interesting discussions we had during the summer school visit. Thanks again to all of the summer school students for their critical engagement!

 

More students to benefit from Kent Paris scholarships in 2013-14!

The University of Kent’s Paris scholarship fund enables a student or a group of students to get financial support with their course.

Making a decision who to support from the strong field of applications is always a difficult task and only students expecting to graduate with a first class Bachelor’s degree who had already been offered a place on one of the Paris courses were considered.

This year, we are delighted to be able to more scholarships (UK/EU fees rate) to more  students thanks to a generous extra contribution from the University of Kent’s Faculty of Humanities.

We look forward to welcoming  the successful scholars to Canterbury in September and to Paris in January.

Congratulations!