INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OF THE IUT OF BLOIS

• Information for foreign students
  • Department of Communication Services and Networks
  • Student's life in Blois
• Information for foreign companies
  • Departments of the IUT of Blois
  • Foreign work placement
• Contact:
  Chief of International Relations of the IUT of Blois: Agata Savary
• See also the French website of the International Relations at the IUT of Blois.

The Communications Services and Networks (Services et Réseaux de Communication, SRC) department aims at training professionals who learn the know-how required for the creation of multimedia products (cultural, educative, multimedia, encyclopaedic CD-ROM etc.) and services on-line (websites, Internet, Company Intranet, electronic commercial market, etc.), and other communication tools (advertisement, marketing, posters…).

Organised in 3 categories (Contemporary culture and languages, Scientific and technical cul-ture and Communicational culture), this 2-year training offers a strong theoretic teaching and a lot of practical knowledge, and allows to acquire skills in :

• Project management
• Multimedia
• Programming languages
• Graphics tools
• General knowledge (arts, economics, management, law…)
• 2 languages (English and German or Spanish)

Divided into 1800 hours of teaching (including lectures, practical classes and tutorials) delivered both by teachers and professionals, the training is completed by 300 hours of supervised projects. The second year terminates with an obligatory 12-week work placement in a company or administration during which a student has to carry out a project in agreement with both the company and the university.

The polyvalence of the training allows the SRC graduates to become integrated in sectors as much varied as those of big firms. The career openings are in small/medium sized companies as well in big firms and concern :

• Services of internal and external communication of companies (media, advertising, inter-net, intranet)
• Professions in the press
• Design of multimedia products (using software tools such as Director, Flash, Dream-weaver…) in communication agencies
• Design and management of websites (using HTML, XML, VML, JavaScript…)
• Some notions of computer systems and networks (hardware and software installation and configuration…)
• Creation of databases (using PHP, MySQL…)

The University Institute of Technology ensures a vocational training for a direct integration in the professional world. Nevertheless, some students who have the required abilities can have access, thanks to competitive examinations, to some engineer schools, Professionalised University Institutes (IUP), or Professional bachelor’s degree (License Professionnelle).

Nowadays, more than 3000 students live their higher education in Blois. Situated in the very center of the town, the University Institute of Technology offers to the students good study conditions for their blooming and their success. On the other hand, the university library, which is located close to the University Institute of Technology, proposes numerous books in relation with the teaching.

The university offers rooms and studio apartments at reduced rates (from 120 to 300 Euros per month) in student residences managed by CROUS, the regional affiliate of the French national student-service agency, known as CNOUS.

The university also has at its disposal an University restaurant. The prices are low: a complete meal costs just 2.60 Euros. To have access to the restaurant, you must have a valid student ID card. You can also get a meal in cafés and other restaurants.

In regard to means of conveyance, you can use buses or your own car (you may use your driver's license from home to drive in France). But usually, you don’t really need to use a public transport : the university is not far from the student residences.

Concerning the money, the Euro is now the only currency used for cash in France. If you come to study here for less than 2 years, you may open a non-resident bank account in Euros or another currency.

Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT), Blois, France is a higher education institution belonging to the François Rabelais University of Tours in France. It delivers undergraduate degrees (Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie, DUT) after 2-years studies in four technological fields:

1. Networks and Telecommunications (Réseaux et Télécommunication, R&T).
   Students become higher technicians specialised in installation and maintenance of computer networks and of telecommunications systems. Their typical future profession is a computer network administrator, for example. The courses give a good background in scientific and technological fields, with a special impact on practical experience in:
   • telecommunications
   • computer networks
   • programming languages (C and Java), computer architecture and databases
   • electronics and physics
   • signal processing
   • English
   • oral and written expression
   
   
2. Communication Services and Networks (Service et Réseaux de Communication, SRC).
   Students become higher technicians specialised in applications of new technology to communication, press, arts, advertisement, and media. Their typical future profession is a website designer, for example. The courses give a good background in scientific and technological fields, with a special impact on practical experience in:
   • multimedia
   • graphic design priciples and software (Dreamweaver, Flash, and Photoshop)
   • arts
   • oral and written expression
   • computer systems and networks,
   • programming language (Java), databases,
   • electronics, telecommunications and signal processing
   • English; German and/or Spanish
   
   
3. Physical Measures (Mésures Physiques, MP).
   Students become higher technicians specialised in various kinds of measurement applied to many industrial or research domains. Thus, their typical future professions deal with fields as diverse as pharmaceutics, mechanics, electronics, chemistry, food, and bio-medical industry and science. The courses give a good background in scientific fields, with a special impact on practice of measurement methods and instruments in:
   • physics,
   • chemistry of materials,
   • electricity, electronics, and automatics,
   • mathematics and data processing,
   • quality control,
   • English,
   • oral and written expression
   
   
4. Science and Technology of Materials (Science et Génie des Matériaux, SGM)
   Students become higher technicians specialised in design and manufacture of industrial products. Thus, their typical future professions deal with any stage of industrial manufacturing in fields as diverse as automobile and naval industry, sports technology, aeronautics, appliances, packaging, and many others. Another possible specialisation deals with environmental issues such as retrieval processes, sorting and recycling. The courses give a good background in scientific fields, with a special impact on practical experience in:
   • science of materials (physics, chemistry of materials, mechanics)
   • technology of materials (metals and alloys, polymers, ceramics/glass, multi-materials, process mastering, computer aided design)
   • English,
   • oral and written expression
   • technical documentation

A minimum of a 3-month training period in a company is obligatory for all our 2d-year students of the IUT in order to make them apply their knowledge in practice. This supervised work experience takes place from March till June, and is usually done in France, however some of the best and highly motivated students look for training possibilities abroad. We encourage very much such foreign-country experiences as they often turn out to be key factors in the future professional careers of our students, as well as in their personal evolution.

Students searching for a foreign work placement are usually regarded as motivated and competent. Moreover, they have acquired some hands-on experience, as well as some project managment skills, in their respective domains. A bonus for their prospective employer would be that they do not expect to get a salary and would be quite happy with enough money simply to provide for their accomodation. They usually benefit from grants from the local French Bureau of International Exchanges.

If your institution is ready to offer a work placement for a student of any department of our IUT, please contact the chief of International Relations of the IUT of Blois.