Bordeaux
Students studying in Bordeaux enroll in university courses at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne and/or at Sciences Po Bordeaux.
Course offerings span the humanities and social sciences in Bordeaux. (There is currently no science option in Bordeaux, so students interested in studying science should explore options in Paris, where science courses are available at one of the local universities.)
Academic Program
Middlebury in Bordeaux French history course (1 unit)
French as a foreign language (FLE) course at Sciences Po Bordeaux (0.5 units)
Students’ remaining 2.5 units of credit each semester are obtained through direct enrollment courses at Université Bordeaux Montaigne or Sciences Po Bordeaux.
Université Bordeaux Montaigne
To view a video presentation of the university, please click here.
There are three faculties at the Université Bordeaux Montaigne in which the following subject areas are taught :
UFR Humanités:
Archéologie
Arts plastiques
Cinéma et audiovisuel
Culture humaniste et scientifique
Danse
Histoire
Histoire de l’art
Littérature française et comparée
Musicologie
Philosophie
Théâtre
UFR Langues et civilisations:
Arabic
Chinese
English
German
Italian
Japonese
Korean
Portuguese
Russian
Sciences du langage
Spanish
UFR Sciences des territoires et communication:
Géographie et aménagement
Sciences de l’information et de la communication
The University can restrict access to certain courses. Every academic year, the International Relations Office compiles and updates PDF documents that list courses available to exchange students per faculty. You will find them here : https://www.u-bordeaux-montaigne.fr/fr/international/mobilite-internationale/vous-etes-etudiant/etudiant_etranger_en_mobilite_sur_programme/organiser-votre-sejour.html. In the middle of the page, click the hyperlinks to PDFs that start by “Parcours niveau Licence – UFR…”
These lists of courses offer hyperlinks to the general university-wide course catalogue in which you’ll find more detailed information such as course descriptions, contact hours, bibliographies, etc.
Study Abroad: Bordeaux, France
I really liked Bordeaux as a city because it was big enough that there were always things to do. It’s very beautiful. You walk around and there are these grand archways. Sometimes you feel like you’re sort of in a movie, almost. Even though I was there for four months, I felt like I knew the city and it was my home, but I still felt like there were a lot of things that I still could have done.
I liked how expansive being abroad feels, because when you’re abroad there’s no pre established routine. You have a lot of freedom to do what you want, and sort of be who you want as well. You’re not sort of stuck in the mold that you’ve created for yourself at your normal college campus.
In Bordeaux, I was living with a host family. In terms of language immersion, I think it really is the best way to pick up the mannerisms and the vocabulary of just a French person. You think that after so many years of learning French, that you would be able to express yourself very coherently as soon as you get there, but it’s just a very different ballgame.
Just know that it’s gonna take a lot of effort. It’s not gonna be just, you’re gonna plop down in France and all of a sudden you’re gonna have impeccable accent after four months. It’s gonna take a lot of practice, a lot of making a lot of mistakes and everything.
Study abroad is really important, because you have this little bubble of a world, and you think that’s all there is to it. You go to the dining hall, everything’s already prepared, and you go to class and your life is just very regimented. But as soon as you go abroad, I think you realize, no, no there’s a lot of things about your culture that are very different from other cultures.
It gives you a wider perspective of everything. Because you meet people that you wouldn’t have met otherwise, and who have completely different ways of life. Okay.
Sciences Po Bordeaux
To view a video presentation of the university, please click here.
Course Catalogue: French Language Track
Students wishing to take courses at Sciences Po Bordeaux must also be accepted by Sciences Po Bordeaux, on the basis of their language skills and academic background. The application procedure is simple, but is separate from application and acceptance to the School in France. The deadline for fall and academic year students is April; for spring students it is early November.
Certificat d’Etudes Politiques à titre étranger
Academic year students at Sciences Po Bordeaux may enroll in the Certificat d’Etudes Politiques à titre étranger, which includes interdisciplinary coursework in political science, international relations, economics, etc.