CPaCE News

For the past 12 years, CSULB has enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Epitech, also known as the Paris Graduate School of Digital Innovation, which provides higher education in computer science and information technology at campuses across France and other European countries. Epitech has typically sent an average of 20 students per year to experience two semesters abroad in Long Beach.

These Epitech students usually arrive in the Fall semester, where they take six weeks of English instruction through the American Language Institute (ALI). That prepares them for a more intensive course load in the Spring semester, which focuses more on each student’s specific academic interests, and is part of CSULB’s Study Abroad at The Beach (SA@B) program.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Epitech students took ALI classes remotely from their homes in France during the Fall 2020 semester, before traveling safely to the CSULB campus in Spring 2021, where courses were offered in a hybrid mix of online and in-person (but socially distanced) classrooms. Overall, this unique set-up provided as much of a “traditional” study abroad experience as one could hope for during a global crisis with considerable travel restrictions.

“As this was the height of the pandemic, these super-motivated students had to jump through extra hoops for their journey to Long Beach,” said Chris Mefford, Director of SA@B. “One of the largest obstacles was the stricter F-1 student visa regulations.” 

These regulations required that incoming international students must take at least one hybrid class with an in-person component. Since all CSULB courses were online at the time, SA@B turned to ALI to create customized courses in International Communications and Global Dexterity, which fulfill the requirement while supplementing the students’ discipline-specific coursework. 

ALI responded to ongoing pandemic conditions by focusing on different ways to keep students engaged, including a twice-weekly ALI Conversation Lab on Zoom; an exchange with the ALI Listening Speaking 4/5 class to practice language subtleties; and Q&A sessions with guest speakers from tech companies like Chicago’s Kaizen Labs and Silicon Valley firm Chartboost.
 
In class, ALI teachers focused on topics and activities that were directly related to the students’ interests and professional development goals. Some of the curriculum highlights included diversity and ethics in tech as well as millennials in the workplace, with additional activities to help students polish their resumes and prepare for professional interviews. Their final projects involved pitching their own tech-related project to ALI instructors who acted as “angel investors.”
 
“Because Epitech is a long term partner, we know that these students are advanced speakers of English whose ultimate goals are to secure positions in tech and/or founding their very own start-ups,” explained Jennifer Nolasco, ALI’s Intensive English Program Coordinator, who also taught courses in Fall 2020. “This group was no exception! They were highly motivated, intelligent, and fun-loving…a delight to teach.”
 
When SA@B welcomed 21 international students in the Spring, among the eight from Epitech was Baptise Cayrier. He had already taken ALI’s American Language class remotely from France in the fall, so he was ready to enroll in Strategies for Intercultural Communication and other international business courses once he arrived at his new Long Beach apartment in Spring 2021.

“We don’t have this kind of campus in France,” said Baptiste of life at CSULB. “It’s beautiful, and classes are really nice. I feel more comfortable speaking now that I’m in California. Meeting Americans helps improve English.”

Although it was challenging to get his visa and make travel arrangements, Baptiste received help from ALI to process medical and insurance documents while getting settled in Long Beach.

“It speaks volumes about students’ motivation, that they were willing to deal with all the challenges of travel in the pandemic to come here,” said ALI instructor and program coordinator Courtney Stammler. ”Plus, they probably really wanted to go surfing in California!”

“I’ve got a board and a wetsuit, and I go every week!” agreed Baptiste, who took Kinesiology 124A (Surfing) while simultaneously studying software engineering.

He hopes to run his own business one day, and some of his fellow Epitech students already have plans to return to Long Beach for internships they lined up in previous semesters. In addition, at least 25 new applicants are slated for the Fall 2021 cohort.