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Immerse yourself in one of the world’s most vibrant cultural capitals on the Columbia Summer in Paris: English Track. The academic curriculum is suitable for many different majors, and students do not need to have a French language background to apply.

Program Overview

Through this program, students will engage with the rich and complex history, culture, and society of France and the broader Francophone world while completing coursework taught in English. The curriculum offers opportunities to deepen one’s understanding of Parisian life and explore the diverse dimensions of French and Francophone cultures. Students will take a total of six points.

This five-week program will take place from Saturday, May 30th, 2026, to Saturday, July 4th, 2026. Classes are typically held Monday through Thursday, while on Fridays, activities are planned in conjunction with the courses to provide more cultural exposure to the city.

Eligibility and Application

ELIGIBILITY

  • Currently enrolled undergraduate students in good academic and disciplinary standing
  • Graduate students and post-graduates are all eligible to apply
  • Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Students must also maintain a 3.0 GPA during the semester before going abroad

How to apply

Want to apply? Click the “Start Your Application" button at the top of this page. If the button doesn't appear, the program is not yet accepting applications. You will be asked to set up a short profile, which will allow us to send you relevant information about your application. Once you’ve created a profile, you will see a checklist of items that you will need to submit. These generally include:

  • Application questionnaire(s)
  • Personal statement
  • Home School Approval/Clearance: If applying from another university, please check with your home university's study abroad office about applying for permission to attend the program and transfer the credit.
  • Application fee (if applying from another university)​

Academics

Participants choose their courses according to personal aspirations and interests as well as the course schedule. Course selection will take place after you confirm your place in the program. While efforts will be made to honor students' requests, enrollment in any particular course cannot be guaranteed.

Please note that the course offerings and schedule are still subject to change. Attendance at all class meetings, concerts, and excursions, unless otherwise indicated, is mandatory. Note that you cannot "mix-and-match" courses across programs taking place in Paris at the same time.

Note: The University reserves the right to withdraw or modify the courses of instruction or to change the instructors as may become necessary.

SUMMER 2026 COURSES | ENGLISH TRACK

These courses will challenge you to look at the history and culture of France from various perspectives while using the city as an essential resource throughout the program. You may study subjects such as literature, art, history, and culture through a uniquely Parisian lens.

MENA4100OC: Migration, Displacement and Diaspora in the French and North African Context, 3 credits
Instructor Madeleine Dobie, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Columbia University

​Taught in English. This course counts as a Global Core Requirement at Columbia University.

This course examines the social, political and cultural history of migration in the Mediterranean, with a particular focus on France and Africa. We examine the forces that have underpinned migration in the nations of the Mediterranean rim since the 1950s and observe major transitions in policy and legal frameworks. Though migration is often treated in mainstream media as an object of policy and legislation, it is better approached as a ‘total social fact’ involving political, social, economic and cultural dimensions. With this in mind, we look at different media, genres and narrative forms in which migration has been represented and debated and grapple with questions about the relationship between lived experience and representation and between politics and the arts.

HIST3136OC: France and the African Diaspora, 3 credits
Instructor Frank Guridy, Dr. Kenneth and Kareitha Forde Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies

Taught in English. This course also counts as a Global Core Requirement at Columbia University.

This course explores France’s complex racialized colonial history by encouraging students to examine the ways the country helped constitute a racialized colonial empire and the ways it created the conditions the conditions to challenge it. The course encourages students to contemplate how France has figured into the creation of the African Diaspora and how diasporic movements for freedom have shaped France. The course will build upon the concept of vernacular landscapes to encourage students to examine how these histories are memorialized, or not, in France today. Topics to be explored will include: the impact of slavery on France, including its port cities including Nantes; the intertwined character of the French and Haitian Revolutions; the convergence of anti-colonial movements in Paris during the interwar period and beyond, and the experiences of Black expatriates in the country during the twentieth century. The course’s location at Reid Hall in Paris will give students ample opportunities to students to examine the reciprocal impact between France and decolonization and freedom movements.

LING UN3102: Endangered Languages in the Global City: Language, Culture, and Migration in New York, Paris, and Beyond, 3 credits
Instructor Ross Perlin, Lecturer, Department of Slavic Languages, Columbia University

Taught in English. This course counts as a Global Core Requirement at Columbia University.

Of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages – representing migrations and historical developments thousands of years old – the majority are primarily oral, little documented, and increasingly endangered under the onslaught of global languages like English. This course looks at the unprecedented, paradoxical superdiversity of contemporary cities like New York and Paris, using language as a lens for examining how immigrants form communities in a new land, how those communities are integrated into the wider society, and how they grapple with linguistic and cultural change. Drawing on ethnography and sociolinguistics and our unique location at Reid Hall in Paris, we will explore the linguistic dynamics of urban life and questions about language mapping, language policy, bilingual education, maintenance and transmission, with case studies from the linguistically diverse Himalayan and West African communities that now have substantial diaspora presences, however different, in both New York and Paris.

HUMA1121OC: Masterpieces of Western Art, 3 credits
Instructor TBD

Taught in English. This course counts as a Core Requirement at Columbia University. Columbia students will be prioritized for enrollment. It may not be taken simultaneously with HUMA1123OC: Masterpieces of Western Music.

Art Humanities teaches students how to look at, think about, and engage in critical discussion of the visual arts. The course focuses on the formal structure of works of architecture, painting, and other media, as well as the historical context in which these works were made and understood. In addition to discussion-based classes like those held in New York, Art Humanities in Paris will make extensive use of the city through field trips to museums, buildings, and monuments.

HUMA1123OC: Masterpieces of Western Music, 3 credits
Instructor TBD

Taught in English. This course counts as a Core Requirement at Columbia University. Columbia students will be prioritized for enrollment. It may not be taken simultaneously with HUMA1121OC: Masterpieces of Western Art.

The focus of Music Humanities is the masterpieces of Western art music in their historical and cultural contexts. The specific goals of the course are to awaken and encourage an appreciation of Western music, to help the student learn to respond intelligently to a variety of musical idioms and to engage the student in the issues of various debates about the character and purposes of music that have occupied composers and musical thinkers since ancient times. Students become actively involved in the process of critical listening both in the classroom and in the live performances that are as central to the course in Paris as in New York. Using a “great works” approach, the course will look at the changing genres and styles of music, examining composers’ choices and assumptions, as well as those of their patrons and audiences, as it moves chronologically from the Middle Ages to the present.

ACADEMIC SCHEDULE

The Summer 2026 Weekly Class Schedule will be published as soon as possible. Please note that the weekly class schedule may be subject to modification.

As shared above, classes are typically held Monday through Thursday, while on Fridays, activities are planned in conjunction with the courses to provide more cultural exposure to the city.

GRADING POLICY

Click here for the Columbia summer program grading policies.

TRANSCRIPTS

Upon successful completion of the program, grades are entered into Columbia's online grading system.

Credit is not granted to students who do not complete the full program.

All courses taken on the program are converted to an American grading scale and transmitted to students as follows:

Columbia Students: Grades appear on SSOL and your transcript as semester grades from courses taken at Columbia. For more information, please see the section on Academic Credit in Steps to Study Abroad.

Barnard Students: Grades appear on eBear and your transcript as any semester grades from courses taken at Barnard. For more information, please see the section on Credit and Transcripts for Barnard Students on our Barnard student pages.

Non-Columbia Students: Can request electronic transcripts online through the Columbia University Registrar.

Life in Paris

HOUSING

Residence Hall: Students will live in single or double-furnished rooms with access to a bathroom, shared kitchenette, and laundry facilities.

Studio-Style Apartment: Students will live in a furnished studio-style apartment with access to a private bathroom and their own kitchenette.

Program housing is not available outside of the program dates.

DAILY LIVING AND SCHEDULE

Depending on the specific courses you take, you will have different commitments for work outside of class. Your commute to Reid Hall will also be between 35-50 minutes, on average. Weekends are free, and students are encouraged to enjoy Paris on the weekends.

The program has many course-related activities, as well as a few social events, that will help students engage with the cultural life of Paris. Past activities have included theater workshops, pottery, crépe-making, wine tasting, and excursions around Paris. You will have adequate time to explore Paris on your own and to soak up the ambiance of the city Paris in the summer. In addition, the Columbia Global Center | Paris has many activities throughout the summer that are open to students on the program at no charge.

LOCATION

The home base of Columbia University in Paris is the Columbia Global Centers | Paris at Reid Hall, where all of your classes will take place. Reid Hall is a small group of buildings owned and administered by Columbia. It also serves as an educational center for other American universities and for scholars from around the world. For more than a century, its long and distinguished past of intellectual, artistic, and cultural exchange has made it significant for the relationship between France and the United States.

Reid Hall, constructed in the early 18th century before the French Revolution, is located in the lively Montparnasse (6th arrondissement) district of Paris, near the Luxembourg Gardens and within walking distance of the Latin Quarter and several branches of the University of Paris. Modern additions have enlarged the facility, creating an interior courtyard and private garden. Reid Hall primarily houses administrative offices and classrooms and also has a small reference library, a reading room, lounges, a multimedia lab, and two large conference rooms. Students have access to WiFi in all common areas of Reid Hall.

People

Staff

The faculty and program are supported by the staff of the Columbia Undergraduate Programs in Paris and the Columbia Global Centers | Paris. You will be introduced to the Columbia Undergraduate Program staff during the orientation.

FACULTY

Please see individual courses for faculty links.

Financial Considerations

Summer 2025 Tuition and Fees*

Please see our cost breakdown for detailed information. The Summer 2026 Tuition and Fees will be published soon.

*Tuition and fees are subject to the Board of Trustees' approval and may change.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

If you receive financial aid during the academic year, you may remain eligible for financial aid when you attend a summer Columbia-Led Program as long as you take a minimum of 6 points.

CC/SEAS: Contact the CC/SEAS Financial Aid & Educational Planning to understand if any of your federal financial aid may cover enrollment costs for a summer program. Please note the Columbia Grant is not available for summer studies.

General Studies: Contact the GS Office of Educational Financing to understand if any of your financial aid may cover participation in a summer program.

GLOBAL LEARNING SCHOLARSHIP

The Center for Undergraduate Global Engagement (UGE) offers the Global Learning Scholarship (GLS) to support Columbia students so they may enhance their undergraduate education by participating in a summer global learning opportunity.

Eligibility:

You are eligible for the Global Learning Scholarships (GLS) if you are:

  • A Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, or General Studies student who demonstrates financial need

  • All other students are not eligible for the GLS

Application and Timeline:

Students apply for the Global Learning Scholarship (GLS) and the Columbia-Led summer program with two separate applications.

Scholarship applications are due: Friday, February 13th, 2026 (closes at 11:59 PM EST)

GLS applicants must also submit a completed program application by the program application deadline OR no later than the following: Friday, February 13th, 2026 (closes at 11:59 PM EST)

To apply to the Global Learning Scholarship, please click here.

OTHER SCHOLARSHIPS

For a list of other scholarships specific to study abroad, please visit our Financial Considerations page > Fellowships and Scholarships for Studying Abroad section for more information. Of note are the:

Withdrawal Policy

To learn about the financial consequences of withdrawing from the program, please review the Summer Withdrawal and Refund Policy here.

Find Out More

After being accepted to the program, we will share information and email communications regarding the next steps. We understand that there will be a lot of steps to complete, so please utilize the resources below to help you get started:

Speak to an Adviser: Want to learn more? Make an appointment to chat with the adviser for this program! You can also email them with any questions, or to arrange a meeting if you are unable to make the listed times.

Applying: Make sure to review the dates and deadlines section at the bottom of the page.

Resources: View our Steps to Study Abroad page to see advice on Where to Begin, how to Prepare to Go, and what you need to know when Returning from Abroad. We will share many resources with you throughout the application and pre-departure process for preparing to study abroad.

We recommend reviewing the following before you apply:

Once accepted, make sure to review the Prepare to Go page for more resources and information about preparing for your experience abroad.