Graduates of the Paris MA programme 2012-13 graduated on Friday 22 November at Canterbury’s historic cathedral. Prizes were awarded to David Van Roon (pictured centre) for Outstanding Contribution to the Student Literary Magazine, and to Liana Tamas for Most Outstanding Dissertation. Also pictured here, second from left, is Paris MA programmes Graduate and current Intern for European Programmes Michèle Schmitz.
Students of the Paris MA suite of programmes enjoyed an exciting day trip to Paris last Friday. The day included a tour and lectures at our Reid Hall centre, followed by a walk through the atmospheric streets of old Paris and a visit to the Musée Carnavalet.
“The Menteur” student literary magazine workshop took place on Thursday 21 November. Paris MA students attended a workshop hosted by prize-winning Paris MA graduate David Van Roon and Paris MA graduate and European Programmes Intern Michèle Schmitz.
Paris has beaten London to the title of best city for students, for the second year, according to the latest ranking.
Article: BBC News, Education http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25008326
The faculty of Humanities is delighted to welcome its new cohort of Paris MA students. The Humanities taught MA with a term in Paris is now in its fifth year, and this year we have 32 students registered in the Schools of Architecture, Arts, English, European Culture & Languages and History.
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
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!
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!
Following the theme of ‘revolutions’, the two week Paris Summer School tackled a wide range of academic disciplines; from avant-garde architecture, middle East uprisings and historical and political revolution to immigration to France, heritage management, self-expression and the use of new technologies to tell a story.
Every day a different excursion complemented the day’s learning. Highlights included a private opening of a philosophy cafe in the Marais for thought-provoking discussions, a guided tour of the castle and garden of Versailles and a peek at a hidden library with wondrous architecture.
The Paris Summer School’s ‘piece de resistance’ was watching the sunset over Paris from the students’ roof terrace then claiming a deckchair in the Roman Arena to enjoy the capital’s Festival des Nouveaux Cinemas.
Dr Ana de Medeiros, Academic Director of the University of Kent at Paris commented,
It was a wonderful opportunity for our very best students to learn something new and discover Paris. They gained confidence, opened their minds to new subjects, became comfortable in a whole new environment, made new friends and even tried out some French! I am sure that these extra skills will all be extremely valuable in their future careers.
This afternoon, 20 first class undergraduate students from the University of Kent will arrive to participate in the first ever Summer School at the University of Kent, Paris.
An initiative forming part of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations, a total of 55 scholarships (5 more than originally announced) were awarded to Kent’s strongest students to enable them to attend the two-week Paris or Brussels Summer Schools.
With over 450 applications, competition was fierce. 20 students from across all faculties were awarded scholarships to study at the University of Kent at Paris for the first two weeks of June.
Students’ tuition, travel, accommodation, lunches and daily visits are all included in the scholarship award and Lecturers from Canterbury will travel to Paris to teach on the subject of ‘revolutions’ and then lead trips to museums and places of interest related to the day’s learning.
We are all looking forward to a busy, fun and intellectually stimulating fortnight in our favourite city!
Welcome to Paris!