Institut d’Etudes Politiques &
Internships in Francophone
Europe
IFE is a Paris-based educational
organization offering a semester-long academic internship program to students
and recent graduates of North-American universities. Enrollment is limited to
12-15 students per semester.
IFE provides a cross-cultural immersion
in contemporary France, tailored to the academic and/or professional interests
of a small number of talented and well-motivated students.
IFE works closely with pre-eminent
American colleges and universities, many of whom grant academic credit for the
IFE semester.
Coursework
French Political Life Yesterday and
Today
Regardless of major field or choice of
internships, student-interns expecting to come to grips with contemporary
France need to acquire an understanding of the deep political fiber of the
French soul and the forms of expression of that character trait in the past
and present. A grasp of France the political society includes the French
specificities of what is a State, how did it come to be, and what is it for
(Module 1); and a close look at contemporary political history and the
socially structuring elements of the Fifth Republic (Module 2).
French Society and Its Relations with
the World
Besides the political/history sources of
contemporary French society, taught in Course I, student/intern also need to
come to understand the kaleidoscopic nature of French society. An introduction
to social composition, demographics, and social problems is followed by an
exploration of cultural policies and the important role of culture in the life
of French society (Module 1). A close look at French social issues translated
to the European and world stage serve as a transition to a study of the place
and role of France in the world via a history and contemporary survey of
French foreign policy (Module 2).
Seminaire sur l’Europe
An academic internship program giving an
inside understanding of France today would be incomplete if it did not also
furnish a thorough "user's manual" to European integration. This seminar is
designed to help students not just to acquire a familiarity with European
institutions--although that is essential--but also to grapple with the varied
issues raised by the many actors who see European integration as the
construction of a society and not just a free trade zone. The democratization
of European governance, expansion to the East, what political form for the
future Union, a European civil society, and a common foreign policy are some
of the topics discussed in this course, which takes a practitioner-based
outlook as one of its starting points while developing an historical
perspective as well.
Memoire de Stage
During the internship period, students
-interns work individually with their tutor to define a topic of investigation
closely aligned with the concerns of their host organization and of interest
to the student. Under their tutor's guidance, students draw up a workable
outline, and then research and write a paper on the chosen topic. The goal of
the research component of the Major Internship Program is to provide students
an opportunity to reflect analytically on their field of activity, to tie
their worklife into larger issues, and generally to benefit from another
approach to organizing information and arguments. A small
team of tutors, part of the IFE
faculty, work one-on-one to make sure that the research paper remains do-able,
and results in a piece of work of real value and use to the student-intern.