Every year, the International Relations Department of Aix-Marseille University organizes an integration week for international students.
Integration week at AMU
Each year, Aix-Marseille University welcomes more than 3,500 new students from all over the world. For AMU, the challenge is to provide them with a quality welcome and allow them to integrate easily into their new environment. In 2019, AMU was awarded the two-star "Bienvenue en France" label, making it one of the top 25 institutions in France to receive the label.
The integration week is one of the welcome programs developed by AMU's International Relations Department. Like the AMU Prep' Days lecture series, the welcome desk and the welcome evening, the integration week marks the start of the academic year for international students.
The objective of these few days is to allow international students who have just arrived in France to discover the different services of the university and to familiarize themselves with the campuses and the area where they will be living throughout their stay at AMU. The integration week is also a time for exchange and conviviality.
Activities in 2021
In 2021, the Welcome Conference was held in Aix-en-Provence and in Marseille and allowed more than 350 registered students to discover the university, its reception services, its territory and the different departments of AMU. After a presentation by Giovanna Chimini, Vice President for International Relations, and Christine Logier, Director of International Relations, SUAPS (sports), SIUMPPS (health), DCS (culture) and SCD (libraries) presented their offers to students.
Campus France and ESN, the student association, also came and participated in the event.
Discover the PPT of the conference!
The presentation ended with the distribution of welcome packs adorned with the brand new visual of the AMU boutique including the handbook for international students, a pen, a lavender Marseille soap, a map of the cities of Aix and Marseille, a water bottle and a book - The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas (A2 level for non-French speakers) and Arcadie...Arcadie by Giono (for French speakers).
The campus DRIs and SRIs were very involved in the organization of this week and introduced their exchange students to the campuses. Many AMU students also applied to be supervisors for all the activities and to welcome their future classmates.
All participants of the integration week were also offered a guided tour of the tourist office in the historical center of the city of Aix-en-Provence as well as a tour of Marseille by Petit Train.
The integration week ended with a friendly picnic in the Jourdan park for the students from Aix-en-Provence and in the Borely park for the students from Marseille where they were able to chat over a packed lunch and get to know each other through various integration activities: ice-breaking games, petanque...
The unused meal baskets were distributed to students of a university residence in Aix and to the association "La Maraude" in Marseille. A success without any waste!
