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Revision as of 13:46, 17 September 2007

The University of London Institute in Paris (abbreviated ULIP) is a remote college of the University of London located in Paris.
The institute was founded in Paris with the help of the British Ambassador in 1894, and became the British Institute in Paris shortly after the First World War. It left its Sorbonne link to become incorporated into the University of London in 1969.
The Institute began life teaching oral English to the French, but was soon improving the oral French of visiting British students. These two activities remained its core activities ever since, adding language assessment in 1945, and until the closure of the English department in July 2007.
The Institute currently offers BA and MA programmes in French studies, as well as research degrees in all aspects of French literature and culture, English literature and film, linguistics (including pragmatics and relevance theory), applied linguistics and second language acquisition. It also had a very popular TEFL certificate programme with over 300 graduates working all over the world.
The British Institute was given its present name in 2005.

In July 2007, the Institute closed the English Section (part of the Department of French and Comparative studies), responsible for the teaching of English to primarily French students. Courses affected include Preparation for Cambridge Exams, the Certficate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and postgraduate degrees taught by lecturers in the English Section. Some 2000 students have lost their places, some of them part-way through an MA in French-English Translation, an MA in Second and Foreign Language Teaching and a PhD in English linguistics. The closure also affected a huge number of students on Distance Courses at ULIP. The Institute has been going through a tumultous period with many changes of staff at management level and extensive spending on the renovation of the building. Reasons cited for the closure include financial viability and falling student numbers. The redundancy plan covers some 39 employees, lecturers, tutors and administrative staff.

The way in which the English-teaching staff has been made redundant is highly dubious (the instigators of the redundancy plan have consistently compared Ulip to the Wall Street Institute!!) and management has been unable to convince both the comité d'entreprise and the auditors appointed to inspect the financial situation that there are valid reasons for making so many staff redundant.

The newly-created structure is designed solely for the benefit of a handful of British students learning French and is unlikely to provide a good environment for these students as the uniquely bilingual and bicultural nature of the Institute has been wilfully destroyed and in effect created what a senior member of staff has referred to as a 'ghetto'.

External link

• University of London Institute in Paris website

References

1. Carez, Céline: "Good bye British Institute", Le Parisien, 03-07-2007

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