Experience Report Université Toulouse Capitole
Name: Anne Simone Biegel
E-Mail: a.s.biegel@tilburguniversity.edu
Exchange semester: Fall 2015
Academic Year: 2015/2016
Host University: Université Toulouse 1 Capitole
Country: France
General Information
The Université Toulouse 1 Capitole consists of four faculties, being Law, Economics, Management
and Communication /Administration and lies in the heart of the city of Toulouse. In this report I can
only speak for myself and I took all my courses at the economics faculty, called Toulouse School of
Economics (TSE) which has a very high reputation in France and internationally. The campus of
Université Toulouse 1 Capitole is spread over the inner city center and the campi ‘Anciennes Facultés’
and ‘Arsenal’ contain the IAE management school and Sciences Po, faculty of administration and
communication. The campus of Toulouse School of Economics lies in between the river Garonne and
the beautiful Canal de Brienne. The University building used to be a tobacco Industry, therefore its
name ‘Manufacture de Tabac’. It is a beautiful red brick building with a nice inner courtyard, which
invites all students to have a coffee and take a little break from studying. I really enjoyed my time at
Manufacture de Tabac, which made me feel at home with its small scale attire and the calm, beautiful
university building.
Toulouse 1 Université Capitole is one of the oldest universities in France and has 21100 students. The
French university structure varies from the Dutch structure. The Bachelor consists of Licence 1-3 but
after the second year of university, students have to apply to Licence 3. If the students meet the
requirements for entering into Licence 3, they are also granted access to Master 1, which is the first
year of the Master. In France, the Master lasts for two years.
Toulouse is a very vivid student city in the south of France, close to the Spanish boarder. As the fourth
largest city in France, which also got ranked as the best student city in France, Toulouse offers a lot of
different activities. Due to its red bricked buildings, the city is often called ‘La ville rose’ (the pink
city). While Toulouse is the centre of European airspace industry, locating the headquarters of Air
France and Airbus, it also has an interesting culture as former trading town. I really enjoyed the
French attitude ‘savoir vivre’ in the south of France, just to mention an example: on Saturdays the city
is full of people enjoying life, treating themselves with cake and coffee or promenading at the banks of
the Garonne. Another big advantage of Toulouse is that the weather is almost all the time very nice,
the temperature barely ever gets below ten degree and the sun is shining most of the time. Moreover,
the region around Toulouse has a charming landscape and within a radius of 200 kilometres it is
possible to make some amazing trips. A must see is definitely the medieval city of Carcassonne but
other than that Toulouse is located in the middle of both the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic coast.
Places I recommend for visiting are Montpellier, Carcassonne, Bordeaux, Albi, Cordes-sur-ciel and
Auch.
Practical Information
Information prior arrival
I received my pre-arrival information very late, only in the beginning of august. The normal process is
that you first apply to Tilburg University and if you are chosen for an exchange spot, your home
institution nominates you to the guest university. Then you will have to apply another time to the guest
university. Although I followed the instructions carefully something went wrong with my online
application to my guest university resulting into my late acceptance and the fact that I was not
registered in the computer system.
Introduction activities
In the first week of September UT1 organizes a welcome week for all incoming exchange students.
They provide you with a presentation of the different faculties and their courses, a library instruction
and help on how to apply for your student card. ESN Toulouse also organizes a welcome week after
classes start with various activities at night and moreover they organize a welcome weekend. I did not
take part in the welcome weekend but it includes the bus ride to the beach with a stop in carcasonne
and also some activities. I did not have a mentor or a buddy.
Housing
The University does offer housing for exchange students but space is limited due to the fact that I only
got my acceptance letter in august, all spots were already taken. I experienced it as very difficult to
find accommodation in Toulouse by myself, especially for a short period of only five months. Useful
websites are http://www.lacartedescolocs.fr/, http://www.leboncoin.fr/ and
http://www.appartager.com/. I found a small studio at aparthotel Jolimont, which offers a student
package. In general, I would advise you to stay close to the metro stations and pay attention to which
neighbourhood you are considering, because some neighbourhoods, especially in the south of
Toulouse are not really secure. Try to avoid Empalot, Le Mirail, Bagatelle and Basso Cambo. The
easiest option is to apply for housing provided by the university, the rooms are small but you have
everything for yourself: two cooking plates, bed, desk and a small bathroom. Another important
information is that you can receive financial aid by the French government for housing, even as an
international student, called CAF. To apply for the CAF is really complicated and of course,
everything is in French, but the University provides a help desk which is close to Francois Verdier, at
the Medicine faculty.
Living Costs
During my stay in Toulouse I received the Erasmus grant, support from my parents and I also had a
job in summer to pay for my travels. Living expenses are higher than in the Netherlands, especially
going out for dinner is more expensive. My accommodation costed 450€ per month but I received a
hundred euro CAF. Public transport is very cheap in France, the carte pastel with which you have
unlimited travel per bus, metro and tram is only ten euro per month if you are aged under 26.
Moreover, different from Tilburg University, I did not have to spend any money on books, because the
reading was only recommended or provided online. It is very hard to say how much money I actually
spent on food every month but I would say around 250€ per month. All the spare money I had I spent
on travelling and I would also advise you to do so, because the region is amazingly beautiful and you
can get to know a piece of authentic French culture.
Academic Calendar
I arrived in France two weeks prior to the welcome week, which I spent enjoying my vacation at the
sea side. The welcome week for exchange students starts in the first week of September, classes start
the week afterwards. Tutorials do not start until three weeks have passed and in the first three weeks it
is still possible to change your course choice. In autumn, the very last week of October, we had a
break of one week. Classes end in the second week of December and exams are either before or after
the Christmas holiday, which is two weeks long.
International office
UT1 has an international office and the responsible person for incoming exchange students is Madame
Tersou, who is always very helpful but most of the time also very busy. The economics faculty is the
only faculty which has its own international office and the responsible person there is Genevieve
Doumeng. If I was not studying at Toulouse School of Economics, I would have been quite
disappointed by the International office, because waiting hours seemed endless and also emails were
barely answered. Luckily I could visit the International Office at TSE, where all my concerns have
been treated in time and were a lot of personal support was offered.
Social Activities
Just as in Tilburg there was a student organization called ESN (Erasmus Student Network), for
international students. They organized a welcome week, some day trips and a lot of parties. Even
though I took all my classes in French, I did not make most of my contacts to French students. Due to
the fact that I only took courses from higher semesters, friend groups were already formed but I did
have some nice coffee dates with French students.
Culture and Language
I experienced the French culture as very similar, but also different from the one of my home country
Germany. In summary, the French are more relaxed than and by far not as hectic as German people.
Quality of life is very important to them and work does not count as such a big part in their life.
Culture shock was something I did not have to deal with due to many similarities to my home country.
What I really liked about the French culture, is that the French, no matter if in stress or not take time
for things which are important to them. No matter how many exams there were to study for, French
students took the time to have proper lunch including entrée, main dish and desert. I think this time is
very refreshing and gives you the energy you need to study for another four hours. I really tried my
best to experience French culture, I took for example almost all my courses in French and I travelled a
lot during my exchange period but I still think that four months are too short to really learn a language
perfectly and to experience a country’s authentic culture. Luckily, I already had a relatively high level
of French before my stay in Toulouse so I did not experience any language problems but others who
did not speak French encountered problems. Additionally, I did not take a language course while on
exchange because of the high price (200€) and the fact that there was no course provided on my level.
I partially followed the Erasmus Intensive Language Course.
Personal Development
After a semester full of new friendships, new experiences and a lot of unexpected changes I can say
that my exchange affected me in a cultural and a social point of view. Personally, I became more open
minded to other cultural habits and opinions. Moreover, I become more relaxed when it comes to
organization, which could be a good and a bad thing. I strongly believe that my Erasmus semester in
France provided me with intercultural competences and language skills which can only enhance my
career. This mobility gave me insights into the French culture and I would like to, more than ever,
work in a German-French cooperation. If I had the chance to do something differently, I would try to
integrate more into the French student life. In Toulouse, Erasmus students were very separated from
the rest of university students. For me, it is very hard to pick my worst or best moments because
everything together makes up the wonderful exchange experience I had. Something I will never forget,
although it is not especially a good thing, is being in France during the ISIS attacks against Paris. Even
though it was a horrible attack it was very interesting to see the different reaction of concerned persons
and politicians and I was proud to take part in a demonstration in honour of the victims of the attacks,
where over 10.000 people gathered in front of Toulouse’s most known sight, the Capitole.
Academic Information
Academic level at Host University
At my host university, almost all Bachelor courses were in French, Master courses were in English. I
followed all my courses in French. All my courses were in the field of economics, because I would
like to follow my Master in Economics. The way courses are held in France is very different from the
way I am used to at Tilburg University. In almost all courses only a very small part of the material is
provided and you have to write down everything the professor says or complete the slides because
they are not uploaded completely. Although lectures are not mandatory, you still have to go to each
lecture to have material for studying. Tutorials are mandatory but you can miss two of them. The
teaching style is very theoretical; you do not get to do anything by yourself. There are no other forms
of examinations than written exams. No group work, presentations, case studies or papers. What I
missed was that we were never asked to comment or criticise anything, students just had to learn by
heart what the professor thought them. The relationship between students and teaching staff was very
formal and there was few interaction between the two parties. Another point of criticism from my part
is that we had to choose our courses before we got to experience a tutorial which is a very important
part of a course. Due to this fact I took some courses which were too difficult for me and my level of
economics and maybe also for my French (I am talking about the courses Macreconomie 3, Topics in
Macro and Analyses et Gestion Financière). Overall, I learned a lot but I academically, I am not really
happy with my achievements. At this point I am not saying this to cover my laziness but to inform
future exchange students better than I was informed, because before my mobility I also thought it
would be able for me to take English taught Master courses.
Exams
As I already mentioned above, I only had written exams.
Description of the Courses
Course Title
Prerequisites
Form of Exam
ECTS Comments
Written 100%
4
interesting
BA
Basic Macro- and
Microeconomics
None
Written 100%
4
easy
BA
None
Written 100%
4
Macroéconomie BA
3
Basic Macro- and
Microeconomics
5
Analyse et
Gestion
Financiere
BA
Financial
Accounting
Two midterms
(20%) final
(60%)
Two midterms
(20%) final
(60%)
Teacher is very hard
to understand
Interesting but hard
without Macro 2
Topics in
Macro
BA
Basic Macro- and
Microeconomics
5
Assignments
Written exam
5
Economie
Internationale
Histoire
Economique
Démographie
Course
Level
BA
5
very hard to take an
accounting related
course in another
language
Assignments are very
difficult but lectures
interesting
Tips for future students
I would definitely recommend an exchange period because it brings so much insight to so many
things. Furthermore, I would also recommend an exchange period at Toulouse School of Economics
but only if you are an economics student and have a good level of French. Try to contact the
International office as soon as possible if it seems like the results of the online application are taking
too long and try to get a spot for the housing provided by the university.
Pictures
La Manufacture de Tabac
Le Capitole
La Ville de Toulouse
La Garonne
Contact details
I am fine if the international office provides students who have an interest in studying at Université
Toulouse 1 Capitole with my contact details, but please do not put them on the Tilburg University
website.