Student Blogs/Marissa in France
And just like that, after seven months of school, summer has officially begun and I am happy to say that I have finished my third year of undergrad! My time at the Montpellier Business School (MBS) has been a whirlwind, and honestly my favourite part about my time abroad. Sure, travelling has allowed me to see the world through a new lens and discover many amazing and beautiful places (travel blog post to come!), but it is at MBS where I have made some everlasting friendships (a bit sappy to say, but it’s true)!
Since my school year has come to a close, I thought it was only fitting to dedicate this blog to my experience with studying in France! When talking to various BIBers, I have noticed there are different teaching styles that each university has, even within the same country. With that being said, I’m going to talk about the experience that I have had at MBS.
Many BIB students in France have the choice of whether they want to take their courses in English, in French or both. However, at MBS we only have the option of studying in English. I must admit that I was a bit disappointed to learn about this, however we were required to take an intensive French language course first semester (107 hours in total). As well, there are many opportunities to practice your French outside of the classroom, so it turned out not to be a big issue!
MBS is a private business school in the grande école category. There are around 2,600 students, which was a huge change from the 28,000 at Carleton. With a small student body, comes a small campus. Being used to Carleton’s giant campus, the small size at MBS came as a bit of a shock! However, I have grown really fond of the MBS campus and love the fact that, like Carleton, it is self-contained. You can’t go to school without seeing at least a few people you know, which is really cool!
Since MBS is so small, there is actually not enough space available to have classes on a fixed schedule. That means one week you could have three classes, the next you could have 10! Being someone who prefers having a fixed schedule, this was more difficult to get used to. Although I still prefer the fixed schedule that Carleton has, I am glad I was able to experience this different style as it allowed me to learn to be more adaptable.
In terms of the courses we could take, MBS actually gives the students a set list of courses. Unfortunately, this meant that I wasn't given a choice in the courses I took but thankfully, many of them were really interesting!
As well, the credit system in Europe is different. Here they use European credits (ECTS). Six of these credits is equal to one half credit at Carleton. At MBS, none of the courses I took were a full six ECTS, so I ended up having more than five courses each semester. In first semester I had eight and in the second I had six!
Finally, at MBS we have had a lot of group work! Pretty much every class has at least one group assignment. I must admit that it was sometimes difficult to arrange to meet, as people were often away traveling, but overall it was a great way to get to know people better!
Overall, I have had a fantastic time at Montpellier Business School and am so happy I chose to study here!
-Marissa
Marissa is a third-year Bachelor of International Business (BIB) studying abroad in France.