The Academic Summer Package at the Heart of Europe
The European Summer Program is a four-week academic program for international students who want to discover France and Europe. It has taken place in June and July every year since 2001, in Lille, in the north of France, welcoming students (and instructors) from around the world to the Université Catholique de Lille, at the heart of Europe.
Students can choose from a variety of courses. The program offers academic courses taught in English or in French, utilizing the University’s expertise in Humanities, Social Sciences, Management, and more. Courses are taught by highly-qualified faculty from the Université Catholique de Lille or visiting professors, with an aim to provide both theoretical background and practical learning through site visits and hands-on activities. Most courses include one or more off-campus site visits, allowing students to experience the "real world" implications and applications of their course material.
Why Lille?
Home to the Université Catholique de Lille since 1875, Lille is a vibrant and dynamic university city at the centre of Western Europe. With swift connections to Brussels (35 minutes), Paris (60 minutes), and London (80 minutes), Lille is perfect for students planning to visit and study Europe. And there is always much to see and do in Lille itself – a welcoming multicultural haven.
About Lille
Lille is a cultural destination with much to offer. Art lovers stroll the Palais des Beaux Arts, home to the 2nd largest fine arts collection in France after the Louvre (with a collection including Rubens, Van Dyck, Goya, and Delacroix), the ancient Hospice Comtesse with works dating back to the 13th century, the Modern Art Museum (whose impressive holding includes works by Picasso, Braque, Miro, and Modigliani), and La Piscine, located in a former art deco swimming pool in neighbouring Roubaix. Further afield, one can find world-renowned museums such as the Louvre-Lens Museum, which opened in 2013 to supplement the Louvre in Paris, and the Matisse Museum in Le Cateau-Cambresis, his hometown. Other galleries and museums abound.
Lille also boasts a significant number of theatres, music halls, movie theatres, an opera house, and a national orchestra, while the metropolis is home to a large number of regular cultural events, including a choir festival, a famous accordion festival, the Lille Piano(s) Festival, the International Independent Movie Week, France’s 1st Eco-Movie-Festival, a contemporary dance festival, and annual events such as the “Fête de la Musique” on 21 June with free concerts all over town.
Lille’s strategic location and the area’s rich resources have made it one of the most fought over regions in Europe, a history visible today particularly through the numerous memorials from the last two World Wars in the region, toured by national and international visitors each year. Lille can boast all the conveniences of being at the centre of a 2 million inhabitant urban zone, yet remains a “human-sized” university city with 250,000 inhabitants. Visitors can get around easily on foot or by bicycle. Public transport also offers the metro, the tramway, and many buses.
Summer 2021 Program Dates:
European Summer Program Session One: May 26 - June 23
European Summer Program Session Two: June 25 - July 24
Learn more about the program
here or check out UCL's Facebook & Instagram pages linked below.
