Education to fund courses to learn French in Caen

Monday 25 September 2017

The Education Department has announced it is funding a one-year course at Caen University to enable Jersey students who wish to study there to acquire the necessary level of French.

The £2,500 course is accessible to any student as well as adults and aims to broaden the education scope in Europe.

Caen University (pictured) offers a variety of undergraduate courses in Languages, Law, Economics, Health, Sciences and others. The courses are virtually free, as students are only asked to pay a registration fee of about £170 and to register for mandatory health insurance which costs around £190 a year. The Education Department has developed "strong links" with the university and is in the final stages of an agreement.

While it would be feasible for Jersey students to study in Caen, language has been identified as a big issue. An A Level standard in French is required to attend the university and to help those who do not quite reach that level, the Education Department is offering to fund a one-year course to acquire French. Worth £2,500, the course includes language lessons, as well as an introduction to French culture. The Education Minister Deputy Rod Bryans assured that by the end of the course, students will have 'enough' French to carry on with a French degree.

Pictured: Chief Education Officer Justin Donovan said that the initiative would help Jersey expand its education links with Europe.

The department can also offer to fund a three-week intensive course, which is open to everybody. Tracy Mourant from the Education Department's Communications team recently took the course, and maintained that it would be possible for students to upgrade their French in just three weeks "if they have the drive and enthusiasm and want to do it."

Justin Donovan, Chief Education Officer, explained that the initiative is part of the department's strategy to broaden its education scope in Europe and gradually open doors to European study.

The Education Department will also provide support with immigration issues and has partnered with the Maison de la Normandie et de la Manche in Jersey to help fill in the lengthy application forms. Representatives from Caen University will be soon visiting Jersey teachers and the department is planning to organise meetings with parents of prospective students. A page on the government website is also being developed to compile all the information on the links with France.