BIDDEFORD — Starting next winter, some very fortunate University of New England students will be able experience the “City of Light” and all its history and culture up close while earning college credits in the process.

On Wednesday, UNE entered into a partnership with the American Graduate School in Paris to create a “UNE in Paris” study-abroad program that will enable undergraduate students from the school to spend a semester in Paris, France.

School officials say the unique agreement between UNE and the American Graduate School in Paris was initiated by Anouar Majid, UNE’s vice president for Global Affairs. He also helped found the university’s Center for Global Humanities on the Portland Campus and the Tangier Global Forum on the Tangier Campus in Morocco.

Coursework for the new program combines international relations with French classes at the Alliance Française, using the city of Paris and its many educational and cultural institutions as an expanded classroom.

During their time in Paris, UNE students will live with Parisian families for a true, immersive experience, Majid said.

“The president of UNE, Dr. James Herbert, and I are tremendously excited by this unique opportunity to offer our students a first-rate American education in English while learning French and living in Paris,” Majid said. “AGS, with its visionary and flexible attitude, as well as with its excellent faculty and staff, is the ideal partner for us. We will do our best to recruit students and grow the program.”

The first session of the “UNE in Paris” program launches in January 2019, and is intended to eventually become the main destination for UNE students studying in the Paris region.

The new program will join other semester-abroad programs currently offered by UNE in Tangier, Morocco; Seville, Spain; and Akureyri, Iceland, along with 16 shorter travel courses in destinations including Italy, Ireland, Kenya, Thailand and the Galapagos Islands.

According to its website, the American Graduate School in Paris offers U.S. higher education programs in France to students from around the world and specializes in two types of programs, including graduate degree programs in International Relations and Diplomacy and undergraduate study abroad programs for partner universities looking to enhance their international coursework.

“Being a ‘boutique’ institution, we were able to design a custom-made program based on the specific needs and goals presented by UNE,” said AGS Director Larry Kilman. “We are very proud for this opportunity to support UNE’s mission of providing international education to students, which very much converges with our own mission.”

UNE is Maine’s largest private university and is home to Maine’s only medical and dental colleges, an array of other interprofessionally aligned health care programs, and nationally recognized degree paths in the marine sciences, the natural and social sciences, business, the humanities and the arts. 

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at [email protected].