Design Your Own Program

NEW: Now offering J-Term and Maymester custom/faculty-led programs in Rabat, Morocco and Dakar, Senegal!

Advisor/Faculty Zoom Sessions: Join APA for bi-weekly Zoom calls to receive the latest updates regarding news from our program host sites as well as information pertaining to COVID-19. Sign up for a one-time session or attend recurring meetings, these Zooms start Thursday, January 14 and continue every other Thursday at 3:00 pm EST.

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For institutions and faculty members who are looking to build their own custom or faculty-led program in an APA site location but don’t have the time or resources to channel into the planning, let APA assist using our Design Your Own Program (DYP) track. Using a combined 60+ years of programming and management expertise, APA crafts tailored, unique programs to each institution and faculty member’s requirements and desires.

From two-week summer art history faculty-led courses to semester-long institution-branded French immersion programs, APA listens to your needs to maximize enrollment numbers and keep your budget intact.

Our 4-step method to DYP breaks down the seeming insurmountable planning tasks in an approachable and straightforward manner:

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Take Your Pick

Choose

Build the foundation of your program by selecting the following:

Location: Paris, France; Rabat, Morocco; Dakar, Senegal
Length of stay: Semester or Short-term: Summer, Maymester, J-Term, Spring Break
Language of instruction: French or English
Field of study: All majors are possible. Choose to collaborate with another department at your institution to create an interdisciplinary program and increase enrollment.
Coursework: Prepare your own classes and/or use APA’s English and/or French-speaking professors to deliver course offerings. APA can also suggest and design courses for your program or, for semester terms, consider adding pre-approved host university courses.
Type of Housing: Hotels, student residence halls, or homestays.

Enhance

Pick from pre-selected options or let APA design a cultural package that will supplement topics that are studied in courses.

Embedded course activities: Complement classroom instruction with integrated visits to museums, business tours and meet-and-greets, or even excursions outside of Paris.
Walking Tours: In a city filled with over 2,000 years of history, there is no shortage of places to see.
Excursions: Previous trips have included Versailles, Burgundy, Normandy, and the Loire Valley.
Cultural Events: Soak up all of the rich culture Paris has to offer by reserving tickets to plays, symphonies, operas, or consider an experiential activity like learning how to cook a classic French meal.

Connect

Connect with your group of students, the university body, or the community as a whole with a variety of activities.

Curated meals: Welcome and farewell dinners, breakfasts with the director, Thanksgiving dinner, and more
Conversation groups with French peers
Extracurricular opportunities: sports, clubs, music, etc.
Service learning: Community volunteering, teaching assistantships, and mentoring

Manage

With decades of experience in the Parisian educational system and study abroad field, the APA staff can bundle a comprehensive array of program management tasks into your package such as:

French university enrollment if necessary
Transcript processing
Travel and study tour logistics
Batch processing for student visas if necessary
Marketing materials to promote the program at your home institution
Accounting duties handled by a Certified Public Accountant
Dedicated on-site support for faculty contact
Ability to collaborate with multiple universities to create a consortium
Reserved program office and classrooms if desired
Hiring and management of independent program director if desired

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