November is synonymous with ATHENS Week at ParisTech. For this 2024 edition, 350 European students have come to the capital for a week of courses and to enjoy the atmosphere of the engineering schools.

For this 55th session of the ATHENS programme, which began in 1997 and has organised two one-week sessions a year since its creation, it was for the first time at Chimie ParisTech-PSL, which now coordinates the programme, that on 16 November international students from European institutions that are members of the Athens ParisTech programme or former members of Paris Tech, made the trip to experience a unique week of immersion among the six engineering schools that are members of the ATHENS programme: Agro ParisTech, Les Arts et Métiers, Les Ponts et Chaussées, Chimie ParisTech – PSL, Les Mines Paris and Télécom.

European Dimension Activities (EDA) to discover Paris. EDAs are a compulsory component of the ATHENS programme, which mainly include guided tours of Paris and other cultural discovery activities. They allow participants to immerse themselves in the European context by exploring emblematic places and learning about the history and culture of Paris. These activities strengthen cohesion between students and give them a unique perspective on Europe beyond the classroom. On Sunday, they took part in several guided tours of the capital, including Montmartre, the Latin Quarter and the Marais.

Made-to-measure support from the ATHENS programme. The international students present for this inaugural session were able to attend three presentations: one on the ATHENS programme given by Johanna Maquigneau, General Coordinator of the ATHENS network, a presentation dedicated to the ParisTech network given by Floriane Gusciglio, General and International Delegate for ParisTech, and finally a presentation by the Mines BDE on the social and cultural integration activities (student evenings) that will be on offer during the week.

After this information session in the Friedel amphitheatre, the European students enjoyed a welcome snack shared together in a festive atmosphere. This meeting provided an informal setting conducive to integration and conviviality, allowing everyone to get to know their fellow students better while enjoying a pleasant break.

Many thanks to Séverine Fogel – Director of the International Relations Office of Chimie ParisTech-PSL, to the students of Chimie ParisTech-PSL, to Omaya Bentayeb (Mines Paris-PSL) for their help in organising this week of festivities, and to Tianxiang Chen (Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées) for the photos.

This ATHENS Week was a great success for Chimie ParisTech-PSL, both in terms of incoming mobility, with more than 350 international students, and outgoing mobility, with more than 110 2nd year student-engineers studying for a week in a partner institution in Madrid, Austria, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Portugal, Romania, Poland and Belgium.

Find out more about ATHENS ParisTech Week