Work placement and practical experience: research focus [ LROM9022 ]

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The work experience is designed to complement and to question the training in the Master's degree in French and Romance Languages and Literatures by offering the students the opportunity to experience a professional setting linked with one of the direct or indirect openings linked to this research focus, in the knowledge that it is designed as a focus to provide openings (cf. description of the research focus).
Students have the opportunity of making use of the analytical and interpretative skills acquired during their linguistic and literary training in all the work environments where such skills may be required.

The work experience enables students to put into practice, within a specific professional framework, the analytical and critical knowledge acquired from studying literature and language. In this way, it prepares them to participate in contemporary society, as humanist intellectuals.  

A supervisory panel, made up of two members of the examination board for the ROM Master's degree, is responsible for validating, supervising and assessing the work experience.
At the end of the work experience, students are required to draft a report (about 30,000 characters, including spaces) which, using an appropriate style of language,

•   1) describes the principal elements of the environment in which the work experience has taken place ;
•   2) gives an account of their experience (tasks undertaken, problems encountered, solutions found, etc.) ;
• 3) outlines the knowledge and skills acquired which relate to their training ;
• 4) analyses their personal contribution, as a Romance specialist, to the host institution;
• 5) gives a critical opinion of this experience, particularly on the view of Romance language and literature training in a professional setting, and the expectations of students who have done this course. This report is assessed by a member of the ROM Master's degree examination board nominated by the supervisory panel.

In addition, the supervisor in the host institution writes a report on the basis of an assessment grid provided by the Faculty office (cf. annex 2).
An oral interview between the work experience student, the supervisory panel and the reader of the report is organised when the student enrols for the examination. Following the interview, the supervisory committee and the reader agree on a joint mark, taking into account the report from the supervisor in the host institution.

It is left up to students to find their own work experience and to ensure that it is worthwhile.    They should submit a one-page proposal to the supervisory committee which should include

• 1) a description of the host institution and the role in it they will play ;
• 2) an explanation of why the proposal is relevant to the ROM Master's degree (particularly skill n° 8, mentioned above : in other words, they should show how the work experience will enable them to make use of skills acquired in the Master's degree) ;
• 3) evidence, where appropriate, that there is no overlap between the proposed work experience and other activities undertaken for the ROM Master's degree. (An activity which is compulsory for a class, a seminar or a thesis may not be validated a second time.)

The work experience is made up of 90 hours in an organisation or institution in which the specific skills of a Romance specialist might be required (see skills acquired), particularly in such fields as:

• culture : cultural centres, museums, writing workshops, intercultural institution, cultural management, theatres, etc. ;
• continuing education : literacy centres, training centres, etc.;
• communication : the media, publicity, business communication, marketing, etc. ;
• research : preferably in research centres outside UCL.
• ...

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This work experience is only for students doing the research focus (and may not therefore be done by students doing the two other focuses through the option courses).
The work experience may take place during either the first or the second year of the Master's degree. At least 15 days before the programmes are validated (in the first or second year of the Master's degree), students should submit their work experience proposal and the agreement, duly filled in, to the supervisory panel. Should the supervisory panel reject the proposal, students should add to their programme a supplementary course from the research focus (with the possibility of submitting an alternative proposal at a later stage when the programme may be amended).