FRANCE - Corinne

I have always wanted to take part in the Erasmus programme of university exchanges, hoping to truly experience study abroad to improve my knowledge of English and the Anglo-Saxon culture, which I had acquired from language courses in Dublin and Oxford. These six months I spent in Dublin also allowed me to learn about Irish history, visit the country, work there between classes and get to know other European students, some of whom are among my closest friends.

At UCD (University College Dublin), I had the chance to get to know Ireland's university culture and take a different, more practical, approach to university education and exams. The introduction to European studies in the department of political science was very interesting and gave me a new interest in terms of my studies and my future professional experience. In 1994 the Economic and Social Committee gave me a grant to carry out a comparative study of asylum policies in France and in the United Kingdom and the first steps towards European harmonisation. I then worked in London for four years with lawyers and NGOs. In 1999 I went to Iraq as an international observer for UNESCO under the United Nations "Oil for Food" programme (Security Council Resolution 986), where I observed in particular the reform of the higher education sector. When I returned to Paris, I helped to organise the General Conference of the International Association of Universities, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its creation by UNESCO to promote international cooperation between universities. Since March I have been living in Brussels, where I am working as a consultant in the field of education. I am married to an Italian scientist I met at UCD (Dublin) in 1992 and we have a little boy who is nine months old.