International Education
Semester Program in Bordeaux, France

Academics at Bordeaux III

St. Mary's students have the opportunity to take courses at Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux III for the arts and humanities.

Course Disciplines
International students affiliate with an academic department at Bordeaux III and direct enroll along French peers in mainstream university courses. Students take courses in French in such subjects as drawing, sculpture, painting, music, theater, film, history of art, philosophy, history, geography, ecology, archaeology, information technology, communications, linguistics, classical and modern languages and literatures. Students can study 70 foreign modern languages at Bordeaux III, but degree programs are offered only in English, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Russian Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, Basque and Occitan.

French Language Courses
The Department of French as a Foreign Language -- Departement d'Etudes de Francais Langue Etrangere -- offers foreign students, prior to their enrollment in the regular academic program of the University, month-long intensive courses, called "stages" or internships, at all levels in French language and culture during the months of July, August and September. Students are placed at their appropriate level according to the results of a placement test. A month-long "stage" costs about $500 for four hours of daily language instruction in classes of no more than seven students, and includes guided visits to cultural sites, films, concerts, wine-tasting, weekend excursions, and sports activities.

Academic Credit for Coursework Abroad

Credits earned abroad will count toward your degree at St. Mary's, often fulfilling Core Curriculum, major requirements, or elective credit. Each course is evaluated for its equivalency at St. Mary's.

To transfer credits to St. Mary's, SMCM students complete the Pre-Approval of Transfer Credit Form and return it to the Office of International Education. The IE Office will work with the Registrar and department chairs to determine equivalencies for individual courses taught abroad.  As stated in the catalog, the College may refuse to grant credit for study-abroad courses taken by the student that have not been pre-approved. 

More information about how to ensure credits earned abroad transfer successfully to St. Mary's is available in the College catalog under Academic Policies and on the Pre-departure Blackboard course.