In front of a new premises, two steps from the National Library of France (BNF), at 13my district of Paris, workers perched on a forklift work on the facade. Inside we unpack the furniture and put the finishing touches of paint. On November 13 and 14, the University of Chicago will officially open its new campus in Paris, where some of the students have already returned to school. “These are the last adjustments, the last touches, but we are on time”explains Sébastien Greppo, executive director of the center, happy to reach the end.
It must be said that between the time the University of Chicago purchased the lot and the time the building was finally able to house students, seven years passed. The wood and glass building, built around a grand central staircase, was designed by world-renowned architect Jeanne Gang, originally from Chicago, Illinois. The façade is surrounded by Saint-Maximin stone columns, a tribute to Haussmannian architecture and that of the old buildings of the“UChicago”as the students call it.
Inside, classrooms equipped for video if necessary, a 120-seat amphitheater, libraries, a reception area, a green terrace, relaxation areas… In total, the university will have agreed on an investment of 30 million euros to provide a new environment. for about 125 students who will be able to come to study there each quarter under the same conditions of excellence as in Chicago.
intensive courses
“It had become a necessity given the growing number of requests to come to study in Paris,” explains Sébastien Greppo, who had already managed the previous center since its opening in 2003, a few streets away, rue Thomas-Mann, which It had reached saturation point and therefore closed its doors. “The idea of offering programs abroad (“study abroad”) gained momentum in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This included showing our college students. [les étudiants de premier cycle, âgés de 18 à 21 ans] that the Chicago campus is not the center of the world. »
The project to settle in Paris, supported by the colleague of the University of Chicago (the structure that brings together undergraduate) initially faced some resistance. There was concern for the safety of young Americans, barely adults, released in another country. And then, how to guarantee that by integrating foreign universities they benefit from the same quality of education as in Chicago? What also happens with university years that operate by trimesters in the United States, but by semesters in France?
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