Minor in French and Francophone Studies

REQUIREMENTS

COURSES
The minor is composed of five courses, or a minimum of 15 points beyond the language requirement / prerequisite (FREN UN2102), which are distributed as follows.

CORE (6 points):

  • FREN UN3405 “Read, Think, Write in French” (Formerly titled “Advanced Grammar and Composition”)
  • One of our two core interdisciplinary, undergraduate survey courses, which cover literature, history, and culture from the Middle Ages to the Present. These include either our history survey (FREN UN3409 Introduction to French and Francophone Studies: History) or our literature survey (FREN UN3410 Introduction to French and Francophone Studies: Literature).

INTERDISCIPLINARY ELECTIVES (9 points):

  • The remaining three electives can be fulfilled by various French or Francophone literature courses at the 3000 or 4000 level.
  • These elective courses can include advanced literature, culture, and history courses offered by the Department of French, as well as our popular “French Thru/Through X” (FREN UN32XX) courses, which reinforce advanced French language proficiency through various cultural themes (including Current Events, Paris, Pop Culture, the Visual Arts, and so on).
  • Students are encouraged to study abroad at Reid Hall and may apply advanced courses in French towards their degree.
  • Though students should prioritize classes taught in French and in the Department of French, courses with significant coverage of the French and Francophone world in other departments (e.g., History UN2353 “Early Modern France”) may also be counted towards the minor with DUS approval.
  • Although students should prioritize classes taught in the Department of French at Columbia, some French courses at Barnard College may be taken with the approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

 

CURRICULUM MAP:

  • Students are encouraged to first complete FREN UN3405, to prepare themselves for other, more advanced university courses in French. One possible curriculum map is thus to take FREN UN3405, then the core literature and history survey courses (in any order or concurrently), before completing the three required elective courses. However, additional core and elective courses can ultimately be taken in any order or concurrently.
  • Elective credits can also be completed while studying abroad, either at Columbia’s flagship Global Center at Reid Hall or at partner institutions like Science Po.
  • Any elective courses taken at partner institutions will be subject to DUS approval.

 

LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY REQUIRMENTS:

  • Students could begin completing their minor immediately after arriving their freshman year but should begin a minor no later than their junior year. Upon arrival at Columbia, interested students will need to pass the language proficiency exam to determine whether they need to complete first- and second-year French courses, or whether they can pass directly to FREN UN3405.
  • All language prerequisites must be completed before taking FREN UN3405.
  • The AP French exam already fulfills the language requirement for Columbia students, so it may not fulfill requirements for the minor.