An internship to understand the world
The curriculum core course, TN07, is a four-week intercultural placement that takes place during the summer holidays or between semesters abroad, in any country enabling students to familiarise themselves with the culture and living conditions of the chosen country and to practise a foreign language.
The N07 placement has existed since 1974, at the very beginning of UTC. Brazil, Italy, Japan, Canada, Chile, Cambodia, Norway, Mexico, Slovenia and Saudi Arabia are just some of the many and varied destinations chosen by core students for this intercultural work placement. On average, between 30 and 50 students go wherever they want each semester, according to their own wishes and networks. «We accumulate «experience capitalisation» which is requested from students after their stay to facilitate the departure of subsequent students from a practical point of view and to find their placement. The international placements coordinator works with them to refine their project and help them find a suitable placement. There is a wide range of destinations, in Europe and America, but also in sub-Saharan Africa, for example Tanzania, Rwanda and Namibia. Students can also work in youth hostels, on farms or even in wildlife refuges! The TN07 work placement gives them the opportunity to develop their intercultural and linguistic skills in a practical, hands-on way, and then to analyse their experience in a report and presentation. It’s generally a very enriching experience for students who are still young and at the start of their training, and the demand for a real intercultural analysis is designed to help them overcome cultural clichés,» says Hadrien Coutant, head of the course, lecturer in sociology and research scientist at the UTCCostech laboratory.
Alone on the other side of the world aged 19
After a maths/SVT (life sciences) baccalaureate, Maelys Luc was admitted to UTC in September 2021 and is currently majoring in Urban Engineering. She would then like to specialise in BAT (the elective specialty in Building science). In the summer of 2022, she spent five weeks in South Africa, in the town of Greyton (near Capetown) in an animal sanctuary: Greyton Farm Animal Sanctuary. The placement was made possible by ‘Workaway’, a ‘Wwoofing’ service. «I based my research on this country, which I’d wanted to visit for a long time, then I looked for hosts on Workaway and that’s how I found my destination. This holiday really gave me independence, as I was on my own in another country. It also allowed me to meet some great people. From a professional point of view, I discovered values that I would like to keep and enhance in my job as an engineer, such as mutual aid, team spirit, empathy and ecological values, respectful of the world around us. My English has also improved a lot.
Chilean immersion with Hugo Jimenez in his first semester in the mechanical engineering department
Why did you choose the UV TN07?
I really wanted to discover Latin America. Also, like all UTC students in the core curriculum, I had to do either a work placement in a company or an intercultural placement. TN07 was therefore the ideal format. The aim was also to step outside my comfort zone and have a unique experience, as I was going off on my own to the other side of the world for a month. To find this placement, I sent out a large number of applications in Latin America to research centres, associations, NGOs, schools and museums. In fact, the TN07 UV leaves plenty of scope for professional activities to maximise each student’s chances of finding a placement abroad.
What was it like once you got there?
I did my placement in the north of Chile, in the city of Tocopilla to be precise. I was housed and fed by the family of Ghia Duran Camus, my placement supervisor and HR manager for the regional bus company Sucesion Luis Camus Calderon. The first week enabled me to familiarise myself with the Chilean way of life and discover Tocopilla and the surrounding area. The following two weeks were organised so that I could take advantage of longer weekends to visit typical Chilean tourist sites. Finally, I spent the last few days with my host family. They were very welcoming and shared their daily life and customs with me.
What do you think are the benefits of this UV?
First of all, I don’t know any student who has done a TN07 and regretted. The experience offered by this course can only be beneficial. «Indeed, ‘travel is for the young’. This experience has had a strong impact on me and has enabled me to become more open-minded, to learn a lot about Chilean society and also about French society thanks to the cultural perspective that this work placement has given me. I also ‘grew’ personally, because being alone for four weeks on the other side of the world changes you. Above all, working abroad required me to adapt, because the working conditions (working hours, assignments, relationships between colleagues and clients, the labour code) really are really different.
