Studying and Working in France: a Student Guide (review)

The year-abroad tutor's task is probably the hardest administrative task in French departments. However, tutors can be reasonably confident that students buying this book will have no excuse that they were not given the right information. The tone is formal and only occasionally lightened by the sardonic understatement recognizable to hardened pros of the year abroad. This revised, expanded and up-dated edition of the same authors' 1994 publication remains a uniquely helpful source of reference for British language students preparing for and getting the most out of their stay, whether working or studying. More than the original edition, it also targets advice at non-EU students from the English-speaking world. The first section is a concise description of the role of universities in higher education in France, and types of courses available. A useful section is devoted to assistantships and other work placements, but the largest part of the book is on university study. The bureaucracy of the French system is revealed to its full extent in chapters describing accommodation and welfare services and in the practical and detailed advice on how and when students should apply for courses and accommodation, register, enrol, look after their personal health and safety and disentangle themselves at the end with all their documents and bank-balance intact. The completeness of the advice is remarkable, supplemented by a glossary of terms and abbreviations going beyond the purely educational, with an appendix giving specimen CVs and letters for key stages of the process. The mysteries of the caution, the état des lieux and the feuille de soins are revealed. Many apparently little tips are important and easily overlooked — for instance, well before leaving make sure your passport will not run out mid-year. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to profiles of 29 university towns, with six new ones, including Angers, Orleans and Pau, whose profiles do indeed read as though they are up to date. One or two are still missing (e.g. Le Mans). The sections on individual towns contain almost every piece of practical information (with addresses and telephone numbers) a prospective student could envisage: the different universities/HE institutions and their courses, CROUS and private-sector accommodation addresses, a guide to the town and surrounding area, other tourist information, leisure facilities, post offices, health care, emergency numbers, travel details and of course Internet cafes. The detail seems generally reliable and up-to-date. The typos (mis-spelling of licence, p. 20), errors and omissions (the IEP de Lyon, the direct tram line to the Lyon-Bron campus, the list of subjects covered in Bordeaux III and IV) are rare, but nonetheless regrettable. There could have been a reference to the SNCF's excellent Internet booking system. The list of emergency telephone numbers is wrongly referenced (p. 73); the rail directions to and from Pau are mixed up (p. 258); Saône and Rhône areas' wines are confused (p. 191). Passing references to famous 'sons of the town' are all too often to the exclusion of females; and Saint-Nectaire cheese is surely not local to Toulouse.