Despite the Covid crisis, Indian students for a semester at IGR-IAE Rennes

Despite the Covid crisis, Indian students for a semester at IGR-IAE Rennes

Four students from our Indian partner Pondicherry University spent 6 months with us, in the midst of the covid crisis.

We recently met Sudharshan, KamalDhass and Prathima, three of the Indian students from Pondicherry University, India, who look back very positively on their stay at IGR-IAE Rennes and their experience in France in general.
With backgrounds in Commerce, Mechanical Training and English literature, and currently completing studies in an MBA in tourism and business, they never gave up their dream of a semester in France. Getting a visa and a booking a flight to France were a real journey, but for them it was definitely worth it.

They even smile when they remember their arrival in France and the administrative mishaps that usually highlight international students’ first months in France. After a difficult beginning their stay at the CROUS residence is regarded as a good experience and an opportunity to meet students from all horizons.

They also have good memories of their integration into our English-taught- Licence 3 International Business, where they took most of their classes. They felt welcome and well included in the French students’ activities. For them, everything is part the French cultural experience: having to keep the camera on during all the classes, witnessing the way the French professors interact with students for instance. Their difficulties lied in the technical aspects of distance learning, with platforms and interfaces that are not adapted to non-French speaking students. Fortunately, they had several opportunities to meet the students and professors in person and have rich interactions, when classes were taught in IGR-IAE Rennes’s premises.

Day trips to St-Malo or the beach litter pickup day organized by the Colibri Association… have been more opportunities to be included into the IGR-IAE Rennes student life. As soon as this is possible, they are planning a day-trip to Le Mont-Saint-Michel!

Our Indian students want to make the most of their stay in France. Two of them are willing to do an internship in a company, which would be a great asset for their forthcoming career.
Their LinkedIn profiles are available here:
Sudharshan VARATHARAJ
Kamaldhass Sridharanhttps

In the challenging times we are going through, meeting students like Sudharshan, KamalDhass and Prathima is an encouragement to keep international student exchanges alive!