There is a large number of foreign students in Polytech Grenoble. These foreign students have all left their home country to study in France, and all have different reasons to do so, and all have encountered a certain number of difficulties, from the language barrier to the change of scenery, or else struggling with solitude or difficulties to integrate a group.
Moreover, each one of them as a different view about France, that they can compare to their respective home countries. It may then be interesting to know about their point of view about life in France, about what convinced them to study in France, and about the difficulties they have encountered on their journey.
Hakim is a third year student from Alger, the capital of Algeria. Before entering Polytech Grenoble, Hakim studied dentistry in Algeria during 2 years, he then came to France to pursue his studies but failed the PACES contest. Having learnt about a gateway between PACES and the second year of integrated preparatory class Polytech, he then tried his luck and got accepted in Polytech Lyon.
His opinion about France, the difficulties he encountered and his arrival at Polytech Grenoble
Hakim spent his first year in France with his aunt in Lyon. With French being the second official language of his home country, neither the change of country nor the language caused him any problems. However, he encountered some difficulties with the administrative procedures he had to complete, which are too numerous according to him, and the challenging pace required to succeed the PACES’s contest.
After his second year of preparatory class, he attended the open days of Polytech Grenoble and informed himself about the program of the computer science cursus. Hakim, being seduced by the school and the city of Grenoble, decided to pursue his studies in the engineering cycle in Polytech Grenoble. He appreciates the city, which he describes as calm and “neither too small nor too big”.
Overall, Hakim likes France, and wishes to remain here after graduating.
Why computer science and what are his projects for the future
Hakim chose computer science by passion and because the specialty offers a very high hiring rate. According to a 2020 survey, 96% of the graduates find a job in the 6 months after their graduation, including 91% of open-ended contracts. Hakim is still hesitating about what job he want s to do in the future. For now, his short terms ambitions are to graduate and to find a job.
International Women’s Day
Like every year, the International Women’s Day will occur on March 8th.
International Women’s Day is one of the 140 international days held each by the UN. This day is dedicated to the fight against gender inequality faced by women. During this day, we promote women’s accomplishments, we collect donations in order to give it to associations fighting against women’s discrimination. We also organise events, conferences, and demonstrations to raise awareness about the discriminations faced by women across the world, and do lobbying to fight against those discriminations.
Each edition of the International Woman’s Day focuses on a different theme. This year, the theme will be ‘Break the bias‘, for a world without stereotypes, bias or discriminations.
The story of the International Woman’s Day
On February 28, 1909, the American Socialist Party organised the first national Women’s Day across the USA. In 1910, during the second International Conference of Working Women, Clara Zetkin proposed to honour an International Women’s Day each year. The members of the conference were charmed by this idea and thus they created the International Women’s Day. This celebration was organised for the first time in 1911, one year after the conference, in 4 countries:Germany, , Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.
In 1975, the International Women’s Day was celebrated for the first time by all the country members of the United Nations, then officialised in 1977, making the International Women’s Day a global event, allowing us to review the situation of women’s right in the world, and to demonstrate for obtaining more.
Since 1996, the United Nations has used an annual theme to orientate actions towards a specific subject. The first time, it was ‘Celebrating the past, planning for the future‘.
Why do we need an International Women’s Day?
Because around the world, women are still victims of numerous discriminations, for example, 1 women out of 3 has been victim of physical or sexual violence, and 200 million have been subjected to genital mutilation. Because in 153 countries in the world, there are laws that discriminate against women in an economical way, in 18 of them, men can even legally forbid their wives to work.
Because, even nowadays, women suffer a lot of discriminations across the world, and that it’s necessary to fight to improve their conditions.
Who can participate in the International Women’s Day and how?
Everyone, including companies, medias, or even simple citizens, can participate in their own way in this event. If you wish to contribute to this event, you can do it in several ways. You can make a donation to an association, or participate in one of the numerous demonstrations that will take place in France that day, you will probably be able to find one close to your house. You can also go on the website dedicated to this event and browse the ‘get involved’ section. There is a great number of activities available, from posting videos to participating in an event.
You can also send a picture of you crossing your arms to show your support, like in the picture below. You can submit your picture on the website dedicated to the event, in the section ‘theme’.
You can also post it on social media with the hashtags #IWD2022 and #BreakTheBias.
