Paris Students Rowing _mg_1680 Guards Adrian_wall Tower_bridge Polo Notre_dame _mg_1719 _mg_1694 South_bank Sorbonne Brighton Sorbonne1 _mg_1882 _mg_1511 Biarritz Effel Velib Primrose Cab Westminster Garnier _mg_1727

Alumni

James Arkinstall - EC 1999–2000, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales

"Learning Bengali in... Paris, and speaking it in... Sierra Leone”

Studying Hindi and Farsi can lead to the most distant and exotic places… like Paris, for example. After doing Oriental Studies in Cambridge, James Arkinstall completed his master’s in International Relations at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO). There, he continued learning Hindi and “a bit of Bengali as well”, but was surrounded with students who had learnt languages as diverse as Japanese or Urdu. “It was a good mix of people, with different expertise, which makes the course quite unique”. He then worked for Federal Trust, a think-tank, and the Aids Alliance, focusing on HIV/Aids issues in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Wishing to acquire “an experience in the field” James joined Médecins Sans Frontières, which sent him directly to Sierra Leone. Bengali was made an official language there in 2002, in recognition of the work of the 5,300 Bengladeshi peace-keepers. Surely an unexpected opportunity for James to make use of his Bengali language skills! There, he worked in a big bush hospital, helping to bring medical relief. His Franco-British background proved very useful to his work. “Work is conducted in French at Médecins Sans Frontières, but in the political office where I work, it’s English, as it’s more about negotiating with pharmaceutical companies”.

Eloi Droniou - EC 2005-2006 Heriot-Watt University, MSc Renewable Energy

“I had just learnt to sail and I subsequently lived on my boat in Stromness for a year”

It was by sea, on board a 9-metre long sailing boat, that Eloi Droniou chose to reach his Scottish host university for his EC year. “I had just learnt to sail and I subsequently lived on my boat in Stromness for a year”. An Oceanography graduate from the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA), Eloi went to complete his studies on the Orkney Islands, 16 kilometres north of the Scottish coast. He chose EMEC, the European Marine Energy Centre, an international research centre funded by the Scottish government : “It is the only centre in the world where one can test wave energy on a real scale. He recalls his fantastic time at Heriot-Watt in 2005-2006, “Although it is a very specialist topic, it was still possible to discuss renewable energies over a pint at the local pub”.

Eloi then went on with a placement with Scotrenewables, still in the Orkney Islands. The Pentland Firth, which separates them from Scotland’s mainland, is one of the few areas in the world where the convergence between waves and currents makes “tidal farms” profitable, because they are predictable. “When the machines start working, we will always be certain of how much energy will be delivered”, a decisive advantage compared to solar or wind power. From his experience on the other side of the channel, Eloi has drawn knowledge and skills that can be applied directly to his native country: the Raz Blanchard, just off the Cotentin region, is very similar to the Pentland Firth: “France is in second place after the United Kingdom in terms of tidal energy potential”.

Laura Hayes - EC 2005-2006, Ecole de théâtre Jacques Lecoq, Paris

“I taught a thousand kids, each of them has been affected by this money and is a little drop who changes the world hopefully for the better”

Trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Laura Hayes joined Trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Laura Hayes joined Touchstone Shakespeare Theatre, which helps disabled or excluded children through physical theatre, learning the English classics without pens and notebooks. “Shakespeare wrote his works to be performed out loud, not read in a classroom”, this is why Laura applied to the Lecoq International School of Theatre. “Lecoq is a school of creation, you do that by exploring acting with masks, Commedia dell’Arte, boufons and the art of clowning”. She insists on the difference the Entente Cordiale scholarship has made to her. “There’s no way that I would have been able to do it without the scholarship. It’s really difficult to go to this kind of school. As an actress you don’t earn much money”.

“Complacent thinking is very bad for theatre. If you are in a different language, in a different country, those challenges keep you very alert. It profoundly changed my life.” She now uses the techniques learnt at Lecoq as a bedrock for all her new Touchstone projects like putting on musicals with 10-year olds or writing her own play. She also appreciates the consideration for artists she found in France and at the British Council. “The scholarship means you’re being put on a par with people from other domains. You are as worthwhile as they are. It’s wonderful that Entente Cordiale respects all these very different metiers.” And that energy gained in Paris fuels the lives of so many of children: “I taught a thousand kids, each of them has been affected by this money and is a little drop who changes the world hopefully for the better”.

Edouard Moreau - EC 2006-2007, University College London, MA Urban Design

”The interesting thing is that it gives you an insight into other professions. Opportunities arise from this difference”

Edouard founded Technopolitan Studio, his own agency for operational urban design agency, with an English classmate from is EC year at UCL..The pair have travelled to Moscow, Dubai and even Tikrit in Iraq to showcase their planning solutions for public and private spaces alike. After studying at the Ecole des Ingénieurs de la Ville de Paris (EIVP), Edouard “wanted to go to England to do a Master’s degree in urban design. In this sector, London is the international springboard for all projects”. At University College London, he discovered a different approach to education. “The Masters courses are very flexible, we have a great deal of freedom. Soon they allowed me to work on a particular angle of urban design, for long projects lasting several months, without having to sit exams every fortnight".

Edouard developed the idea of the “co-working space”, to humanise offices and allow employees to share their tasks with ease; thanks to his company, and was soon able to apply these theoretical models to clients in the private sector in Moscow. “Thanks to a conference on “the city of tomorrow”, organised by the British Council, I met the right people and was able to do business in Moscow”. Edouard praises the “networking spirit” of the Entente Cordiale scheme and the opportunities it provides to meet the most varied personalities: ”The interesting thing is that it gives you an insight into other professions. Opportunities arise from this difference”.