UU Report form - Erasmus PREPARATION STUDY ABROAD PERIOD. level bachelor s master s PhD. 19 / 12 / 2014 (dd/mm/yyyy)

Transcriptie

1 UU Report form - Erasmus faculty/college Social sciences level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Psychologie destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Montpellier, France Université Paul Valéry III 08 / 09 / 2014 (dd/mm/yyyy) 19 / 12 / 2014 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! PREPARATION You have to do a lot for the application process. Therefore I give the advise to read carefully and follow ALL the steps. It is not only the application in Osiris, it is also the finance, searching a house, learning the language, etc. counselling & support at Utrecht University You can ask all your questions to the international office, they will help you in all the ways possible. If it is one thing that I learned, then it is that they help you very well, in comparison to the university of Montpellier. In france, everything was more chaotic, for exemple, they don't answer every and there's lots of paperwork in stead of administration per computer. academic preparation There are online on the site of Paul Valery the courses and the points. The only thing not clear is the schedule. You have to make it yourself. The only thing that I can advise is going to the secretariat in Montpellier, at the university, because they know clearly which courses are double for exemple (you can think you can't do both courses the same time, but actually you can because of one course you must only take the half of the time). The courses are clear per faculty. For me it was okay, because I wanted only to take courses of Psychology, but when you want to take courses of another social science (for exemple sociology) or another faculty (for exemple french) you have to go to that secretariat for their hours of classes and if you know that, you can create your own schedual. It is thus very intensive and unclear, but finaly it will work. language preparation French is for a lot of people not that easy as English. I took a cours in Utrecht at a low level of French (B1/B2), but it was very helpful. You learn to speak more easily and not to be afraid to make mistakes. I worked also 6 weeks on a camping in the summer to improve my french. If you are dutch: there are lots of french campings that search dutch helpers! That's because there are lots of dutch visitors in France and the french people don't speak dutch. finances Next to the OV compensation, the Erasmus and your own studiefinanciering, you can get most of the time CAF in France when you pay rent, it will be between euros per month, so it's worth looking it up:) study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD page 1 of 7

2 Paul Valery works with Licences, that are semesters, so you have licence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 et 6. For exemple, when you are going the first semester, you can only take courses form licence 1, 3 et 5, because they will take place in the first part of the year. At Paul Valéry they have like a solid program of classes with a little choice beside, like some speciality courses. As an Erasmus, you're not obligated to follow the solid patron, you can take for exemple 3 speciality's (that's what I did), and you can take courses from all the licences. It depends on what you may follow from the UU. academic quality of education activities In Paul Valéry, there are a lot of lectures, a lot of powerpoint, and a lot of contact hours. There are no books to read, sometimes an aritkel. Learning for the exams is mostly learning the powerpoint. But: they don't give the powerpoint, you have to copy it all (a good computer for me was very handy). counselling & support at receiving university abroad Paul Valéry is a little chaotic. You really must do a lot for getting answers. In the end, it is not that complicated, you just have to know. You must know that the secretariat is really helpful and you just must ask all your questions. For me mostly the language barrier was hard. transfer of credits This was a laborious process. It took mee a lot of effort to reach the University of Montpellier. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE You have an Erasmus Montpellier and an ESN facebook page, where you can see and make appointments and partys. The university gives you not that much introduction. accommodation There are dorms, you can fill in the application form for having a chance on one of the chambers. Otherwise you have to search something yourself. The University will send you a lot of links of residences. That information is very clear. leisure & culture Montpellier has the beach, which is very nice. Furthermore the people here are very relax and very kind. The city is clean and the tramways are good working. Most of the french people eat warm in the afternoon, so you can have a very good and cheap lunch at the university restaurant. suggestions/tips The trains are, in contrary to the rest of the costs in France, cheap! When you book early actually. I did trips to Marseille, Nîmes, Beziers, Sete and Paris. Montpellier has very beautiful surroundings. When you rent a car, forget not to pass by the Camarque CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain I would recommend this University. The way things goes is different, but it has also advantages. Besides I like that Erasmus students in Montpellier are also in contact with real French persons and that they speak, most of the time, french with each other. do you have any additional advice or comments? You're always welcome to contact me if having questions! page 2 of 7

3 UU Report form - Erasmus faculty/college Sociale Wetenschappen level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Psychologie destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Montpellier, France Université Paul Valéry 3 Montpellier 16 / 01 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) 15 / 06 / 2015 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! PREPARATION The exchange application process was good. The steps that I had to take for my application were well explained on the site of the University Utrecht. counselling & support at Utrecht University There was a lot of support at the University Utrecht. In february I visited a meeting where they promoted the Erasmus Exchange programme and that really motivated me. During my application process I visited the International Office a several times and they were very helpful and interested. academic preparation The academic preparation could have been better. When I was applying, the University Utrecht told me that I would start the semester in Montpellier at the beginning of January. That would mean that I couldn't finish the first semester in Utrecht. Therefore I followed only one course before leaving instead of writing my Bachelor thesis because I thought I would already be left at the date of the presentations. A month before my departure date I received an from the University of Montpellier that they were expecting me at least at the third week of January. That meant that I could have wrote my Bachelor thesis. Now I have half a year of study delay. I also had already bought my flight tickets which I had to change. So a suggestion for next year is to well inform the students about the departure date. Besides that the academic preparation was good. The International office gave me an adress of a student who had done an Erasmus Exchange the year before and she explained me a lot about the University in Montpellier, the courses and the student life. That really helped me a lot. language preparation My level of french was already sufficient before leaving so I didn't need a language preparation. I followed a language course and a course about the french culture at the department of French language and culture to prepare myself. finances I was well informed about the financial aides that I would receive during my period abroad. The International Office had explained to me which steps I had to follow to receive the Erasmus Grant. However, the student that I had contacted had told me about the CAF. It's a housing benefit that every student in France can receive. Thanks to her I knew about the CAF. It might be a good idea to mention this to students who are leaving to France. You have to hand in several documents in order to get the CAF, like an international certificate of birth. It's difficult to arrange this when you are already in France. page 3 of 7

4 study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD The study programme was different to what I am used to in Utrecht so in the beginning I had some difficulties finding out how the french system works. But the International Office in Montpellier was really helpful and they answered all my questions. academic quality of education activities Comparing to the University of Utrecht I think the academic quality of the study Psychology in Utrecht is higher than in Montpellier. The difference with the french system is that here students are more motivated by teachers to discover things by themselves and in Montpellier teachers help more and sooner. In Utrecht you have to find out yourself first and if you can't find a solution, then you can ask a teacher. counselling & support at receiving university abroad The support at the receiving university was really good. When I arrived I visited a meeting where a few International officers presented themselves and explained the study programme and everything Erasmus students had to arrange at the arrival. During my stay they were really helpful. When I had some questions I could come to the office and they took the time to answer them. transfer of credits I didn't receive my transcription of records already so I don't know yet how the credits are transfered. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE In Montpellier you have ESN. It's an association that organises activities for Erasmus students. At the first meeting organised by the International Office they presented themselves. During the first week, there were activities organised every day so there were a lot of possibilities to meet other Erasmus students. During the semester they organised parties, excursions, sport events and cultural events. I really liked it. I went to Barcelone with ESN and I participated on a lot of activities. accommodation I'm satisfied about the accomodation I had. I lived on a student campus. I had my own bathroom and toilet and I shared the kitchen with other students. Almost all the Erasmus students lived in student residents so it was easy to meet new people. leisure & culture Like I said ESN organised a lot of activities for Erasmus students which made it easy to discover the french culture and meet new people. The organised activities like wine tasting, trips to other cities for instance Toulouse, Carcasonne, Nice, Cannes and Barcelone. I'm realy satisfied about ESN. Especially at the beginning of my period abroad it was an easy way to meet other Erasmus students. suggestions/tips I have no suggestions CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain I would definitely recommend this destination abroad to others. I had a wonderful time in Montpellier. I got the opportunity to study Psychology in french which is really special. I learned about the french culture and the french schoolsystem. I really liked the campus. Besides the studying part, Montpellier is a great city, it's in the southern of France so the weather is nice and it's also near the beach. The people are nice and friendly. do you have any additional advice or comments? page 4 of 7

5 Like I mentioned at the part of finances, it might be a good idea to mention to students who are leaving to France that they can receive a housing support (CAF) so they can already prepare the necessary documents. It's difficult to arrange this when you are already in France and it takes a lot of time so students often miss the first few months of the housing benefit. page 5 of 7

6 UU Report form - Erasmus faculty/college social sciences level bachelor s master s PhD name study programme Psychology destination city & country name university abroad start date end date Montpellier, France Université Paul Valéry III 01 / 09 / 2014 (dd/mm/yyyy) 20 / 12 / 2014 (dd/mm/yyyy) exchange application process You are requested to write on the following topics. Text boxes will expand automatically while typing! PREPARATION Er is een aanmeldingsprocedure in Utrecht en daarna nog eens aan de host university. Ik heb voor Montpellier gekozen en werd gelijk aangenomen. Omdat er soms formulieren nog vóór de aanmelding in Utrecht moeten worden getekend moet wel vroeg aan de aanmelding worden begonnen. Daarna moest ik me dan in Montpellier aanmelden. Dit kan niet online maar ze sturen een enveloppe met alle benodigde formulieren. Deze kunnen dan ingevuld en teruggestuurd worden. Hier kan je ook gelijk aangeven of je een kamer in een studentenhuis wilt. counselling & support at Utrecht University De begeleiding aan de UU was heel goed. Je kunt alles altijd per mail regelen en ze zijn snel met het sturen van de benodigde documenten en het beantwoorden van vragen. academic preparation Ik heb me niet echt voorbereid maar omdat ik in het frans moest studeren ben ik daarvoor al wat meer vakken aan de UU gevolgd. Op die manier hoefte ik niet alle 30 ECTS te halen in frankrijk. language preparation Ik had 7 jaar frans op school en hoewel ik veel vergeten was heb ik me niet verder voorbereid. Ik ben wel al 1 maand van tevoren naar frankrijk gegaan. Dit heeft goed geholpen met het verbeteren van mijn frans en is zeker aan te raden als je niet regelmatig frans praat. finances Frankrijk is wel wat duurder dan Nederland, vooral de supermarken. Ik heb een leuk maarkt gevonden (in figuerolles) waar je groenten en fruit voor weinig geld kunt kopen. Voor grotere boodschappen zou ik naar een lidl of één van de grote supermarkten in de odysseum of vlak bij het strand gaan! Uiteten is wel goedkoop als je een menu kiest. Dat krijg je vaak voor minder dan 20 euro. study programme (content and organisational issues) STUDY ABROAD PERIOD De organisatie is precies zo als je het van frankrijk zou verwachten. Het duurt heel lang en informatie is nooit online te vinden. Voor de cursussen die ik wilde volgen moest ik altijd naar een sekretariat lopen om informatie te krijgen. Bovendien zegt ook iedereen iets anders over of en hoe je moet inschrijven. Uiteindelijk heeft het lang geduurt (4 weken) voordat ik alle cursussen had gevonden maar het is ook zonder inschrijving helemaal geen probleem geweest. Ok de docenten zijn gewend aan organisationele problemen, dus er is helemaal geen probleem als je wat later begint met een cursus. page 6 of 7

7 academic quality of education activities Het onderwijs is wel op een lager niveau dan in Nederland. Soms hebben ze niet eens power point presentaties wat het moeilijk maakt om te volgen. Ik heb altijd iemand kunnen vinden die zijn notities naar mij doorstuurde en doordat ze meestal geen aanvullende literatuur gebruiken is het niet zo moeilijk om goed voor te bereiden voor een tentamen. counselling & support at receiving university abroad Er was altijd één docent die verantwoordelijk was voor de Erasmus studenten. Deze docent had elke week 2 uur een inloopspreekuur. Helaas had ik altijd om precies die tijd les wat het voor mij een beetje moeilijk maakte om een afspraak met hem te maken. transfer of credits Nadat alle cijfers online stonden heb ik een mailtje aan het erasmus bureau in frankrijk gestuurd met een bevestiging van de cijfers. De transcript of records werd dan automatisch naar mij en naar mijn uni in nederland gestuurd. welcome & orientation programme STUDENT LIFE In Frankrijk was er een orientatie week. Naast een algemene Inleiding in het frans werd de orientatie ook nog in anderen talen gegeven. Helaas waren sommige dingen ook gewoon voor eerstjaars studenten maar stonden mee op ons plan. De informatie die daar werd gegeven was helemaal niet nuttig voor Erasmusstudenten. accommodation Ik heb ervoor gekozen om zelf op zoek te gaan naar een huisje omdat ik graag franse huisgenootjes wilde hebben en ook centraal wilde wonen. Het is wel lastig om iets te vinden omdat er niet veel kamers beschikbaar zijn in Montpellier. Ik heb uiteindelijk een leuk huisje in het hartje van Montpellier gevonden met twee huisgenootjes. Ik zou er wel op letten dat het mogelijk is om CAF te krijgen. Dit is een soort woongeld waar iedereen recht op heeft in Frankrijk. Meestal zijn dit 90 euro per maand. Het is wel weer werk om CAF aan te vragen maar het geld is de moeite waard. leisure & culture Montpellier is een heel levendige en studentische stad. Het leven vindt eigenlijk bijna het hele jaar op straat plaats en t/m eind october kun je nog lekker aan het strand liggen. Het strand is niet ver en met tram, bus of fiets goed te bereiken. Een fiets kun je bijvoorbeeld via leboncoin.fr of op de maarkt in mosson (elke zondag) kopen. suggestions/tips Tijdens de zomermaanden (juni - eind september) is er elke vrijdag een leuk festival (les estivales) met eten, wijn, dans en live muziek! :) CONCLUSIONS would you recommend this university/destination abroad to others? please explain Ik ben heel graag in Montpellier geweest en vond het erg jammer als ik weer terug moest. De uni vond ik niet boeiend maar het leven in Montpellier is zeker leuk en bovendien kun je heel veel reizen, ook naar spanje bijvoorbeeld. Ik zou het sowieso aanraden om er naartoe te gaan, vooral als je van frankrijk houdt! De mensen in Montpellier zijn allemaal heel open en het is makkelijk om contacten te maken, ook buiten de erasmus scène! do you have any additional advice or comments? page 7 of 7