Rennes 2’s management team was delighted to welcome Ms. Elizabeth Webster for a visit to its Villejean campus recently. During their afternoon meeting, they discussed existing relationships and ongoing projects with new and long-standing U.S. partners like the University of Oklahoma, the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG), the University of Rhode Island and, our newest partner, the University of Mississippi.
Thanks to these and other similar partnerships, Rennes 2 is able to offer mobility tracks to its students and staff. One concrete example of this is the French Lecturer position reserved for Rennes 2 students at Grinnell College in Iowa. This type of collaboration also facilitates cultural and artistic exchanges. In 2018, for instance, a jazz ensemble from UNCG was invited to play with Rennes 2 students and perform several concerts around the city of Rennes. The following year, Rennes 2 faculty members Emmanuel Parent and Erwan Boivent and their students were the guests of honor in North Carolina, before continuing their visit with tours of important cultural and musical sites in Washington D.C. and New York.
The Vice-President also presented to Ms. Webster the Languages and Societies Master’s Degree: Americas pathway, a multidisciplinary and multilingual degree with an international dimension focused on the study of the entire American continent at the political, economic, social and cultural levels.
Ms. Webster was very pleased to hear about the bilateral agreements between numerous U.S. educational institutions and Rennes 2. She suggested the organization of talks hosted by Rennes 2 and supported by the consulate and its network, a proposal very much in line with Rennes 2’s strategy of internationalization at home. These discussions will be ongoing and, once the health situation linked to the Covid pandemic improves, Rennes 2 hopes to again invite Ms. Webster to present her to our faculty members working with American partners and on U.S.-specific projects and fields of study.
Following the meeting, Ms. Webster was provided with a tour of the campus, during which they visited a few key sites such as the Central Library, the PNRV and its interactive amphitheater, and admired the beautiful fresco of Toni Morrison.
