A summer school is a university with an international dimension, allowing a student to validate, abroad or in the same country, one or more subjects and can be part European credit system ECTS. Lasting up to six weeks, this program is generally offered between two academic years.
What are they for?
In American schools (and in English schools in Canada), the program can usually have two different objectives. A progress function to help students earn credits for a course they can not attend during the school year (e.g. if it overlaps another desired course). The other function is to help students who did not validate a course or two during the school year. These students take the courses they had not gone in a summer school for credit recovery. Many American and European universities offer this possibility.
When are they?
The summer school usually take place at the end of summer vacation, that is to say, late in August through early September, often bringing together a large array of activists and leaders of a political movement or associations, teachers and civil society actors to conference sessions, debates, training held during the summer holidays. These retreats are designed to learn, deepen, or reflect the projects of the year.
Most of the summer school runs for two or three weeks, during which students receive intensive training in different subjects like the History of Technology and Industrial Heritage for example, through interesting lectures and field visits.
This summer school has proven, in addition to having a large scientific interest, an excellent way to weld and build promotions immediately the collective student. Summer schools are thus great experiences student can have during their university years.
