France

This translation course is taught at the first-year level. This course focuses translating both the tone and grammar of Francophone and Anglophone literature, and provides abstracts from English and French writers, mostly from the latter half of the twentieth century. The course first practices translating from English to French, and then from French to English. Students can choose to take one or two parts, whether English to French or French to English.

The course focuses on the constituents of the simple sentence and their categorization (the different classes of words), as well as on the morphosyntactic relations within the simple sentence. The nominal group and its constituents are studied more particularly. It is about learning to identify words from their characteristics in terms of their form (morphology), their meaning (semantics), and their combinatorial possibility (distribution).

This course provides an approach to the study of neuroscience. It covers the major issues addressed by the discipline and the fundamental bases of the functioning of the nervous system.

This course consists of three segments: oral comprehension, oral production and expression, and phonetics. Oral comprehension focuses on listening and understanding conversations, radio shows, and interviews; taking notes; and writing a summary. Oral production and expression develops oral skills through discussions and presentations. Finally, phonetics emphasizes rhythm and intonation, articulation, phonetic notation, elocution, pronunciation, and oral and gestural expression.

This course analyzes Francophone literature and the stylistic choices authors make to enhance and create certain points in their writing. It focuses on contemporary Francophone literature with a postcolonial approach, its different forms in comedy/humor/irony, and different genres such as the novel, poetry, theater, and essay. It covers historical background and analyzes different literary details.

With the different food crisis and increased protectionism, agriculture is coming back in the policy makers' agendas. Food security, food sovereignty, and sustainability are now central to the debate. This course provides an understanding of the main challenges facing the world food markets. It introduces the basis of agricultural economics and policy with a particular focus on the European Common Agricultural Policy. The role of international institutions and trade liberalization is also discussed, in particular concerning developing countries. Agricultural specificities in the WTO and regional negotiations are detailed. Finally, policy evaluation tools are briefly presented, based on some examples.

The extensive independent study field research paper produced by the student is both the centerpiece of the intern's professional engagement and the culmination of the academic achievements of the semester. During the preparatory session, IFE teaches the methodological guidelines and principles to which students are expected to adhere in the development of their written research. Students work individually with a research advisor from their field. The first task is to identify a topic, following guidelines established by IFE for research topic choice. The subject must be tied in a useful and complementary way to the student-intern's responsibilities, as well as to the core concerns of the host organization. The research question should be designed to draw as much as possible on resources available to the intern via the internship (data, documents, interviews, observations, seminars and the like). Students begin to focus on this project after the first 2-3 weeks on the internship. Each internship agreement signed with an organization makes explicit mention of this program requirement, and this is the culminating element of their semester. Once the topic is identified, students meet individually, as regularly as they wish, with their IFE research advisor to generate a research question from the topic, develop an outline, identify sources and research methods, and discuss drafts submitted by the student. The research advisor also helps students prepare for the oral defense of their work which takes place a month before the end of the program and the due date of the paper. The purpose of this exercise is to help students evaluate their progress and diagnose the weak points in their outline and arguments. Rather than an extraneous burden added to the intern's other duties, the field research project grows out of the internship through a useful and rewarding synergy of internship and research. The Field Study and Internship model results in well-trained student-interns fully engaged in mission-driven internships in their field, while exploring a critical problem guided by an experienced research advisor.

This course provides a key understanding of the historical and ideological foundations of the Islamic Republic’s revolutionary regime and its foreign policy. From the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a turning point in Middle Eastern and global contemporary politics, it overviews the deep changes in the ideological and political landscapes resulting from the establishment of the Islamic Republic: the impact on political Islam, the regional equilibrium, Iran's place in the international community, and the reactivation of rivalries and confessional tensions with neighboring countries. The study of the Iranian political and religious model through a multidisciplinary perspective helps to understand the immediate consequences of the Revolution, its longer-terms effects, and the regional reaction.