The City of Lyon
The history of Lyon goes back more than 2000 years to the Roman occupation of Gaul and vestiges dating from this period can still be seen today. In the Middle Ages Lyon's trade fairs attracted merchants and bankers from all over Europe; some of them settled here and they built the district known today as Vieux Lyon, an exceptional example of 15th and 16th century architecture, now carefully restored and officially designated as a World Heritage site. The traditional industry of Lyon was silk weaving, and the silk trade was the basis for the economic development of the city. Other industries such as chemicals and mechanical engineering developed around silk manufacturing.

Today the Greater Lyon conurbation has a population of almost 1.5 million, making it France’s second biggest city after Paris. Lyon has everything one would expect to find in a big city: there are theatres and cinemas, museums and art galleries, an opera house, smart shops, cafés and restaurants, yet it is a city on a human scale: the city centre is compact and the countryside is hardly more than half-an-hour away. Within the city the public transport system, with buses, trams and metro, is fast and reliable. Lyon is the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region, a prosperous region with a dynamic economy. In October 2004 representatives of the Mayors of Lyon and Philadelphia signed an agreement of economic cooperation which is broadly equivalent to the inauguration of a Sister City relationship between our two cities.

Penn students on the Lyon Semester Program
The Lyon Semester offers courses at two highly regarded institutions of higher education: the Centre International d’Etudes Françaises in the Université Lumière Lyon 2, and the École de Management (EM) de Lyon, one of France’s top-ranked business schools. In addition to a strong academic program in which students are privileged to have regular exposure to both a university and a grande école, the Lyon

Semester also offers students the opportunity to learn firsthand about French culture through involvement in university-based and community-based activities, and through housing in a local homestay.

The Program begins with an orientation to life in Lyon, accompanied by an intensive language immersion session aimed at familiarizing students with colloquial French and developing aural-oral skills. Students then enroll in courses on French language, culture and society at the CIEF at Lyon 2 and selected business courses at EM. Those students with advanced French will be allowed to enroll directly in courses at the Université Lyon 2.

L’Université Lumière Lyon 2
Created in 1973 following the reorganization of Lyon universities, the Université Lumière-Lyon 2 is one of the city’s three public universities. The Université Lumière-Lyon 2 enrolls about 25,000 students and specializes in Arts and Letters, and the Human Sciences and Social Sciences, providing multidisciplinary education in six Facultés and is the home of eight institutes including the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP) also known as Sciences Po. The Faculté des Lettres at Lyon 2 was recently ranked as the top program for Lettres in France by Le Nouvel Observateur. Lyon 2 is the largest education center in the Rhône-Alpes region and, with its 45 research centers, is ranked among the top research institutions in France.

Program website: http://www.univ-lyon2.fr/

École de Management (EM) de Lyon
The school was founded in 1872 by the local business community, and is affiliated to the Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Industry. EMLYON is a leading French business school and is consistently ranked among the top three or four business schools in France. In 2007, the school was ranked third in France, and in the top 10 in Europe, by both the Financial Times and The Economist. Also in 2007, Financial Times ranked EM Lyon 6th in Europe for its Master of Science in Management program. Situated in pleasant rural surroundings only 10 minutes from the Centre of Lyon, EM LYON combines the advantages of a large conurbation with those of a peaceful leafy campus.

Program website: http://www.em-lyon.com/

Courses
The following courses are offered at the Centre International d’Études Françaises, located at Université Lumière Lyon 2 in the center of the city.

French 201 (1 cu): Intensive French Language and Culture. An intensive language and culture course that is designed to hone your French skills while introducing students to France, Lyon, and French culture.

French 216/218 (1 cu): Advanced French. This required course is a continuation of the intensive course, and will address grammar, phonetics, and language development. French 216 will include a unit on business French and French 218 will focus more on developing writing skills for students enrolled in direct enrollment courses. Student will select either FREN 216 or FREN 218 depending upon their academic focus.

French 298 (1 cu): Topics in French Culture and Communication. This highly interactive course is designed to introduce students to the values and beliefs that shape French language and culture. It will first address general intercultural communication theories, followed by a historical and sociological interpretation of Lyon and the Lyonnais. The second part of the course will be devoted to an exploration of French culture through film and will provide students with an enlightening lens by which students can examine French culture and compare it to their own.

History 182/French 298 (1 cu): Contemporary French History and the European Community. The two thematic units addressed in this course are contemporary French history and the development of the European Community. Students will come away from the course with a greater understanding of French History and the country’s role in the greater context of the European Community.

The following courses are taught at the École de Management de Lyon located in the suburb of Ecully:

Marketing 333: Multinational Marketing in Europe. Marketing theories and practices as they apply to the various European economies will be examined. Several professors will lecture on a variety of themes, and the course will culminate in a group project.

Management 334: Seminar on Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Creativity in Business. This three-week intensive seminar will provide an introduction to the three forms of logic in entrepreneurial innovation. Penn students will be integrated with French students for the group projects.

Course Load
Participants must maintain a full course load-as defined by the program or host institution-for the duration of their period of study abroad. The standard course load in Lyon Semester Program consists of five courses. All students will enroll in French 201 and either French 216.

Grading
French grades are awarded on a 20 point scale (including decimal points, e.g. 13.5). The scale is not based on an equal distribution of points nor on a percentage. In the French system, a perfect exam or paper may not always be awarded a grade of 20 depending on individual professors' practices. Students are assessed on the basis of continuous work, and mid-term and final exams. Grades are reported on the French scale and are converted to Penn grades according to standard French - U.S. grade equivalencies: A = 14-20, A- = 13+, B+ = 12+, B = 11+, B- = 10+, C+ = 9+, C = 8+, C- = 7+, D = 6+. As on all Penn Abroad programs, grades are recorded on the Penn transcript and are calculated in the cumulative grade point average. The pass/fail option can be exercised according to the Penn on-campus policy.

Application Deadline
October 1 (spring)
February 15 (fall or academic year)

Living Arrangements
Participants must be willing to live under local conditions for students. Many amenities to which students become accustomed at Penn may not be available during the period of study abroad.

Penn students in Lyon are expected to live with local French host families as a means of deepening their study abroad experience linguistically and culturally. Students are housed individually with French families where they can experience daily life à la française and develop their skills in idiomatic French. The families often invite students on excursions, to sporting or cultural events, and occasionally even to family gatherings. Meals provide excellent opportunities to exchange opinions about events in the news, or to ask questions about something that you, as a visitor from another country, may not have understood. The host families provide breakfast, dinner and weekend meals. Students make their own arrangements for lunch and have access to subsidized university

Student Life
Penn has selected Lyon as a study abroad site in which to encourage cultural immersion and the development of cross-cultural competence. Each student is encouraged to become involved in a university-based or community-based activity as early as possible in the semester, and to remain involved in the activity for the duration of his or her stay in Lyon. Non-credit internships may also be arranged for spring semester students. Penn's on-site coordinator will help guide each student in the choice of activity or activities, which may include recreational, cultural, artistic, or community-service activities. The coordinator arranges regular presentations and discussions about French culture to help students in their cultural integration. Because developing cross-cultural competence takes effort and time, it is expected that students be willing to devote several hours per week to community and university activities, and they must be willing to speak French at all times.

Visa
The French government requires that all program participants obtain a student visa and that year-long participants have a carte de séjour. Instructions are provided to admitted students. Non-U.S. citizens must consult a French consulate for visa requirements.