From my perspective, an Australian 4th year student who is used to a high level of intensity and independent research, the ESSCA courses seemed quite easy and very informal. Many of the lecturers are guest lecturers, or professionals from certain industries. The course structure therefore tends to be quite random, not the same week to week. Courses dealing with the EU were quite informative. Courses such as Info Systems were let down by lack of resources and (in my opinion) a somewhat unusual teaching style from one teacher. The assessment was generally okay: the exams were mostly a fair test of ability. There seemed to be a big emphasis on group project work and Powerpoint presentations for assessment: good in that it forced students of different backgrounds to interact and work together, but poor in that too often one or two students carried the group, making the group mark an fair assessment of some individuals. Some courses were good in concept, but thin on content, some of them completely finished in only 2 or 3 days, sometimes not living up to their original potential. Again, from a 4th year student point of view, many courses were a revision of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year in Australia, surprisinigly not challenging me in the way I expected an elite French school of the calibre of ESSCA would. Nonetheless, many times I appreciated the lighter workload given that I was in a new country, surrounded by the constant culture shock of French society. The experience of simply living in France (during an election year) was the biggest education on Europe anyone could ask for.
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