Institute for Field Education

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 YES in French with IFE and Sciences Po ("French Field Studies" for students at Northwestern University and Vassar College)

This is probably the most intensive use a student can make of a year in Francophone Europe. The Fall semester is devoted to one of IFE’s Field Study and Internship programs (Paris, Strasbourg, Brussels), followed in the Spring semester by enrollment in Sciences Po, in one of the French-language-based programs at their main campus in Paris (topics in social science, history, finance, management, etc.) Through this program, students may spend up to eleven months in study, internship and comparative analysis in their field, in French, while developing a pre-professional network of French actors in that field.

The integration of these two program types is doubly rewarding

  • The steep cultural learning and language perfection resulting from one of IFE’s FSI programs is the ideal preparation for drawing the maximum benefit from being a student at Sciences Po, where students take classes alongside France’s top undergraduates in this rigorous social science university.
  • The intellectual rewards of this field-study-plus-classroom program accrue from the opportunity to explore thoroughly a subject of interest in a practical, field-level context, to complete a project of research on that subject, and subsequently to pursue background and theoretical studies in the classroom at Sciences Po.



Several program features are aimed at adding cohesiveness to the year as a whole

  • Students who spend the entire year in Paris may remain in IFE-arranged housing for the entire year.
  • During the Fall semester IFE accompanies students to a meeting arranged by IFE with the America Center of Sciences Po, to discuss academic advising issues, get briefed on exact dates and procedures for signing up for spring courses, and other details.
  • Between semesters students are encouraged to take up their internship again—or another one, arranged by IFE—in early January (depending on the start date of their Sciences Po program) in order to avoid losing ground linguistically or culturally.
  • During the second semester, at students’ request, IFE will arrange part-time internships starting midway through the Spring semester, and/or further internship experience on a full-time basis for the rest of the spring and summer, after the end of classes.



Who may participate in YES in French with IFE and Sciences Po?
Originally this program was organized by IFE, Sciences Po and Northwestern University for students from NU.
More recently it has been opened up first to students from Vassar college and now any institution already benefiting from an exchange agreement with Sciences Po, and approving one or more of IFE’s FSI programs.
Students from institutions linked with Sciences Po but having not yet approved an IFE program may wish to petition for permission to enroll in the latter, appealing to IFE to provide all necessary information for this petition process.

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