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. Lyon is also the capital of the Rhône-Alpes region, a prosperous region with a dynamic economy.

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. Lyon has an Opera House and a national symphony orchestra, a national centre for contemporary art, a house of dance, the Lumière cinema institute in homage to the 1st film in the history of cinema (which was made in Lyon) and a wide variety of sites of artistic creation. There is an exceptional range on offer in all fields: film, theatre, music, dance, museums, theme cafés, university public lectures and more. Many major events punctuate cultural life: for example, the biennial dance festival, the biennial contemporary art festival, the science festival, the “Nuits de Fourvière”(popular and classical concerts, plus theatre, from the Roman amphitheatre). And, every year, on 8 December, the city is illuminated for the Festival of Light. Within the city the public transport system, with buses, trams and metro, is fast and reliable.

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.

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 22,000 students, of which over 4,000 are international, 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.

The University has two campuses.The original campus is in a late 19^th century building in the historical center of Lyon on the bank of the Rhône. This main building houses the administration of the university and the Faculté des Lettres, des Sciences du Langage et des Arts, la Faculté des Langues, and la Faculté de Sciences Economiques et de Gestion. The Institutes of Education; of Urbanisme; of Formation Syndicale; of Etudes du Travail; and of Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) are also located in this downtown site, as is the Centre International d’Etudes Françaises. Lyon 2’s second campus is located on the outskirts of the city at Bron-Parilly, now also known as the Porte des Alpes. The two campuses are linked by regular bus service. The Bron-Parilly campus is home to la Faculté de Géographie, Histoire, Histoire de l’Art et Tourisme, la Faculté des Sciences Juridiques, and la Faculté d’Anthropologie et de Sociologie, as well as the Institut de Psychologie; the Institut de la Communication, de l’Information et des Arts de la Représentation.There are libraries at both sites.

Penn Students at Lyon 2

Participants will attend an intensive stage de pré-rentrée universitaire French language course and orientation to the University prior to the start of classes. Students who need to work further on their French language skills will continue taking a language class during the semester. With the exception of the orientation course and any refresher or remedial courses taken in French as a Foreign Language, visiting students are expected to take the same courses as French students at the same level of background.To assist students in their studies, the Penn on-site coordinator can arrange for tutoring in a variety of subjects.

Non-degree seeking exchange students are permitted to select courses from different Facultés and at different levels simultaneously, although it is highly recommended that students pick one or two Facultés in which to pursue their courses. Information about course offerings is available at the Lyon 2 website: http://www.univ-lyon2.fr.

Students needing to take a course in a subject area not available at Lyon 2 may request at the time of application to take a course at one of the other Lyon universities.

Course Load

Teaching is organized in the format of lectures (cours magistraux) and practical classes (travaux dirigés). For each cours magistral there is a corresponding session of travail dirigé. The standard course load at undergraduate level at Lyon 2 is 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer Scheme) credits per semester. Since Penn students, unlike regular students, are permitted to choose courses in different Facultés and at different levels simultaneously, only advisors on site are able to determine the proper weighting of course work in different subjects. The Penn Abroad advisor for France will communicate with Lyon 2 advisors and Penn’s resident coordinator about an applicant’s preliminary subject selection and will assist applicants to arrange a full course load that meets requirements.Academic credit for business courses offered at Lyon 2 will not be awarded. Students may elect, however, to enroll in a limited selection of business courses at the Ecole de Management through the Penn Abroad Lyon Semester Program option.

Grading

French university 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.

Academic Calendar

Fall semester: late August - late December

Spring semester: early January - mid July

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 restaurants.

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 arranges regular presentations and discussions about French culture to help students in their cultural integration. The International Relations Division, which oversees the exchange programs, organizes excursions throughout the year to nearby regions such as the Beaujolais region, the Alps, and the town of Avignon, as well as trips to various events and locations within Lyon. The office also runs French family dinners, where exchange students are invited to dinner at a local French family’s house to enhance linguistic and cultural education. 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.

Insurance and Health Notes

International students attending French universities are required to purchase a supplemental medical insurance policy. This policy can be obtained upon arrival at Lyon 2, and will cost approximately $260 for the academic year.

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.