International mobility in the spotlight

12 October 2023 School

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A look back at Erasmus Day. A day to build your international project was held at all ESTACA sites on October 12: academic mobility, internships, Personal Initiative Abroad (PIA), professional integration... a wide range of opportunities were presented to students! International experience is an essential part of every student's training at ESTACA. A professional and international project support center offers effective guidance and tools to help students discover all the opportunities available.

Erasmus Day at ESTACA is an opportunity to talk about international mobility in the broadest sense, including Europe and much more.

Preparing to evolve in an intercultural context

International experience is essential for future engineers, most of whom will be working in an intercultural context. This dimension is fully integrated into the ESTACA curriculum, with compulsory experience abroad, two compulsory modern languages up to 3rd year and discovery modules.

On Thursday October 12, ESTACA's three sites took part in Erasmus Day, a major European event organized in France and around the world. The aim is to provide information on the opportunities offered by Europe in terms of education, training and solidarity.

During the day, students were able to find out about semester opportunities at partner universities (around 60), internships, scholarships, VIE (Volontariat International en Entreprise), etc. They were also able to expand their knowledge thanks to a mobility quiz (with an interrail pass to be won!) and prepare their international professional mobility in concrete terms thanks to workshops.

"Erasmus Day was an exciting opportunity to present the opportunities for mobility abroad offered by the Erasmus program and ESTACA. It generated great enthusiasm among the students and reinforced my desire to take part in international experiences."

Dominik, 4th year student

University stays, internships or personal initiatives abroad, students testify ...

ESTACA has nearly sixty university partners in some twenty different countries. Timothée, a 5th year student at Paris-Saclay, went on a semester-long exchange to Chonman University in South Korea:

"I found this semester extremely interesting. Academically, I was able to take courses that were different and complementary to those available at ESTACA. On a social level, I was able to visit the country and understand the culture, as well as meeting lots of different professions and backgrounds with whom I'm still in contact today. This experience gave me an open mind that was very different from what I would have experienced if I had stayed at school.

Every year, 1/3 of our students take part in international internships. Pierre, a 4th year student at Bordeaux, did an internship in aeronautical maintenance in Namibia. Here are his main takeaways from the experience:

"I really enjoyed working in a very different environment from what I knew. Discovering another culture and visiting a new country while working in aeronautics. I was also able to work on my English."

The Personal Initiative Abroad is also a way of validating international experience during the engineering curriculum. It is possible, for example, to work in an engineering company, find a student job, do woofing, take part in a language study stay, attend a summer university, etc. IPE gives you the opportunity to discover a new professional and cultural environment.

Audrey, a 4th year student at Laval, went to German-speaking Switzerland to manage rental accommodation and welcome tourists from all over the world:

"It was an opportunity for me to discover a new country and a new culture. I was able to meet people from the USA, Singapore, China and all over Europe. I was able to improve my English enormously. The trip also showed me that anything is possible, and I gained a lot of independence and open-mindedness. Last but not least, I'll always remember my host family, with whom I'm still in contact and who will always open the door for me if I need it."

Find out more about the event and other testimonials on the L'Autre Radio program from 23'25 onwards.