ESSCA

Wish I'd known that accommodation was so randomly assigned. Also wish I'd taken a railpass with me so that I could travel a little cheaper (I was over 25 so the transport situation for me was very expensive). Considered buying a vehicle but not worth it for only 6 months. And wish I'd not worried so much about French consular formalities; turned out that the French dept of immigration were very lax and not terribly worried about my immigrant status (my visa expired while they fluffed around processing my Carte de Sejour!). In fact not one French authority ever examined the inside of my passport when entering/leaving France. Just a cursory glance at the cover to check my nationality! All that after going through hell with the embassy in my own country. Residency status enabled me to get cheaper prices here and there; in hindsight I don't know if it justified the expense though (since I didn't stay longer than 6 months as it turned out).

Go to ESSCA if you are a business, commerce or economics student interested in European politics, and in furthering your interest in the French language (maybe even to begin learning it from scratch).

There is no on-campus accommodation at ESSCA. The best you can opt for is the apartment in the centre of town. If you can afford it then the apartment in town is a much better option than the student residences in rue Léon Pavot (even though they are much cheaper) since the residences are a fair walk away from the town centre and are not close enough to shops and nightlife, and also have too many rules and restrictions about what you can and can't do. If possible get ESSCA to arrange an apartment as close to Place du Railliement as possible (the 'heart' of Angers). Anywhere within the centre of town is fine: this is an area bounded by the river, Bde Charles de Gaulle, Bde Foch and Bde Mitterand. You could alternatively take an apartment just across the river from the centre of town, in the quarter known as La Doutre. The international student life revolves around the centre of town and, to a lesser extent, around ESSCA's campus which is 6km west of the town centre (in the peripheral suburbs of Angers). It is almost mandatory to live around the centre of town, or face isolation from the student life.

From my perspective, an Australian 4th year student who is used to a high level of intensity and independent research, the ESSCA courses seemed quite easy and very informal. Many of the lecturers are guest lecturers, or professionals from certain industries. The course structure therefore tends to be quite random, not the same week to week. Courses dealing with the EU were quite informative. Courses such as Info Systems were let down by lack of resources and (in my opinion) a somewhat unusual teaching style from one teacher. The assessment was generally okay: the exams were mostly a fair test of ability. There seemed to be a big emphasis on group project work and Powerpoint presentations for assessment: good in that it forced students of different backgrounds to interact and work together, but poor in that too often one or two students carried the group, making the group mark an fair assessment of some individuals. Some courses were good in concept, but thin on content, some of them completely finished in only 2 or 3 days, sometimes not living up to their original potential. Again, from a 4th year student point of view, many courses were a revision of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year in Australia, surprisinigly not challenging me in the way I expected an elite French school of the calibre of ESSCA would. Nonetheless, many times I appreciated the lighter workload given that I was in a new country, surrounded by the constant culture shock of French society. The experience of simply living in France (during an election year) was the biggest education on Europe anyone could ask for.

Less emphasis on group work, more emphasis on individual ability. Maybe the essence of a business school is supposed to be about "managing" and working as "a team player" blah blah, but those who expect to maintain a GPA (such as those in North America) here could be frustrated by the group projects. Generally things were okay for me (I didn't have to worry about GPA).

I wish I had known that we should be patient for anything that we want to do ( buy a train ticket, go to the post office ...) japanese people in general are really slow in everything that they do.

Sophia University is a really good one. Teachers are really good and there are about 200 foreigner students each year so it is easier to meet people from different countries.