Courses at Université de Lorraine

Language Class

Unlike other countries, it appears that you have a year-long language class in Nancy. This is a good thing, as unlike other countries, it is impossible to get by without learning some French. At the start of the year there will be three weeks of intensive language course that will take up most of your day, though they lighten up towards the end so that you can begin to get registration done. For the rest of the year, once a week you will have a three hour course. The courses are offered at three difficulty levels for those who are already quite adept at the language or who have no knowledge of French at all.

2nd Masters Electives

You will be asked to choose 4 of these. Some of them begin in January and only last one month. You will have to research the schedules for them.

Diagnostics
Heating
Plasma Physics and Technology
Equilibrium and Stability of MHD
Modeling and Methods for Plasma Physics
Plasma Wall Interactions
Turbulence and Transport

1st Masters Courses

1st Semester

Classical Electrodynamics, Waves, Antenna and Emission Processes
Computational Physics
Instrumentation and Signal Processing
Language and Culture

2nd Semester

Atomic and Molecular Physics
Fundamentals of Plasma Physics
Lab Project
Mechanics of Continuous Media
Nonlinear Dynamics, Hydrodynamics and Magnetohydrodynamics

1st Masters Electives

Non-Equilibrium Systems and Transport Phenomena

Don't be fooled by the name 'elective', as you don't have a choice. In academic year 2014-2015 this course was replaced by a combination of Statistical Physics and Quantum Mechanics. For the latter, add 'Introduction to', to get an idea of the things you'll 'learn' in it.

Course Layout

Courses are given one to two times a week with the possibility of an additional recitation from a PhD Student. Some courses have two professors who will handle different sections of the course. Courses change rooms and times every week, so you will have to constantly recheck your schedule though their are some constants and patterns. Courses also end at various times throughout the year, some only lasting a month or two, and other courses lasting well into the next year.

Courses are usually about 3 hours with a short 15 minute break half-way through the lecture. Bringing a snack is discouraged but you should do it anyways.

Year Layout

Start academic year: 1st September First are 3 weeks of intensive language courses, after which the normal courses will slowly begin. Some later than others.

France has an autumn break of one week.

For M1 students

Some courses have partial exams in the middle of the semester. These count equally towards the final grade as the exams around Christmas. The final exams of the first semester will take place the week before the Christmas break (2 weeks), with exceptionally a few in the days after the holidays, because normally the internship starts then and will take around 2 months.

While all other students have an intersemestrial break, M1 fusion students will just finish their internship and start the second semester directly after the weekend. But a kind professor might let you take some vacation days during the last week.

For M2 students

Some courses have partial exams in the middle of the semester. These count equally towards the final grade as the exams around in January. Some courses will take place during the month of January between your time in Prague and your time in Cadarache. All of your exams will take place in between this time. You sign up for your Thesis towards the start of the school year, but work only begins in earnest after you return from Cadarache in February.