SciencesPo. For many the dream school. The goal that got them through all the stress of high school. For others an unforgettable opportunity to come to France, to actually get to live in the country of baguettes, croissants and fine wine. For all of us a symbol of academic prestige and (hopefully) a future riddled with the relative job security of a degree from an institution like ours promises. However surface impressions aside, what has Le Havre really come to mean for its students? Is the university experience all it was promised to be?
This proved a difficult question to answer and no one homogeneous answer could be derived from the results of surveys conducted with 11 SciencesPo Le Havre students from both 1a and 2a. Though one general notion can be stated, no one regretted their decision to study here. And that seems like quite a solid foundation to start from.
Baguettes and prestige aside, the leading motivation behind the interviewed students’ choice to apply to SciencesPo was the academic layout of the degree. The variety of courses mixed with the opportunity to choose a major the second year topped off with the third year abroad seems to be without a doubt the biggest asset students identified with the school when applying. And in terms of academia that notion seems to remain in present day too, in some ways it’s as if the stellar layout of the bachelors degree manages to make up for other less stellar aspects of the school. Because even if the “doing an exchange year the last year” expectation is met (notwithstanding the unfortunate souls who completed their degree during the covid years of course), other expectations haven’t quite been met to the same degree.
One student mentioned that she was expecting a substantially higher level of infrastructure, namely a school with functioning wifi (please note that even if the wifi does work now, the memory of it not working still remains and validates this point) and more space and resources in general. Another student expressed disgruntlement over our limited library selection, especially for non-francophone speakers. A third student was disappointed over the unequal distribution of events, both academic and social, between Le Havre and Paris. Along the same line a last student mentioned that it’s a shame how limited all assos activities in Le Havre are compared to Paris. Especially in terms of cooperating with the local community.
Now all these points can absolutely be attributed to the size of the Le Havre campus, it’s only natural that resources here will be more limited than in Paris. And many students did mention that they had been prepared for and expecting the various consequences that a small campus and city entailed. Such as a limited social life and limited amount of extracurricular activities available. And for some the size of the Le Havre campus was even seen as a positive that provided a security amongst the chaos and instability that moving on your own to a new city or even country entails. The small campus means that you’ll be seen and valued in a way that might be harder to get at a big campus with a crowd of students so big everyone just becomes another face. And along those same lines several students did mention that their expectations were positively exceeded in regards to the social aspect of it with most respondents mentioning the social life on campus as being a vibrant and welcoming thing. Certain dismay regarding the clicky nature of our social scene, especially in regards to students sticking within their own national or ethnic groups were voiced by some respondents. Yet the overall opinion on the matter was that the school as a whole is a tight knit community, kind of with our own little bubble.
However the negative consequence of that bubble is that it is just that, a bubble. SciencesPo Le Havre is in many ways very isolated from the rest of the city and if praise for the third year abroad format can be seen as the one generality amongst students positive answers regarding the school, then our isolation to the rest of the city marks the consensus amongst students negative responses regarding the school. However how much fault behind that can be attributed to the school and it’s services vs to each individual student is debatable, regardless of this though the general feeling is that more integration with the local community would be nice.
Another mentioned point of what would be nice to have is more “reality preparing” activities. Several students said they were expecting an environment more focused on actually preparing the students for a life in politics or business or at least a life outside of academia, with focus on networking as well as fostering political discussions. Or at the very least with information sessions regarding future job opportunities after university, something that once again seems to be a resource reserved for Paris. That said, it’s not as if these things are non-existent on campus, and although they’re mentioned as possible points of improvement both for the school administration and the student body, they’re mentioned within an otherwise positively toned response.
In the end the respondents’ answers were surprisingly diverse and nuanced, yet if one was to derive one thing from it all it’s, once again, the fact that no one regretted their decision. A fact that shone through in the responses through the notion that although Paris gets too much attention, the academic workload sometimes feels soul-crushingly high and the quality of Le Havre as a student city seems questionable at times… The people are good, and most expectations of uni life are met at our little school, especially when it’s only two years. Finally, a quote from one of the respondents would be the best way to conclude this article: “I’m looking forward to the next year and a half but thank god it’s only one year and half” – SciencesPo Paris campus Le Havre, student, class of 2026
Read more: Exceptions vs RealityLina EXERMAN
Le Dragon Déchaîné 