Since you started preparing for your application to Sciences Po, a mysterious word keeps showing up in your searches, and you’re not sure what it means? Or perhaps you’ve never even heard of this unfamiliar concept?
Don’t worry, we will explain it all.
What is the Civic Learning Programme? Since 2017, it is one of the pillars of your Bachelor’s degree at Sciences Po, and they’re quite proud of it. It constitutes an educational obligation that all students must stricly follow during their 3 years of Bachelor’s degree. Sciences Po established it in order to reward and academically recognize the associative and activist engagement of many sciences-pistes. Those different engagements were not academically recognized until then, which incited Sciences Po to establish it. Therefore, this programme consists in making the students engage themselves for 3 years for the benefit of that is close to their heart, in touch with various audiences.
This engagement is organized through different steps:
– During their first year, student must write an « engagement letter ». In this 2-page written piece, they must introduce a cause that is close to their heart, explain why it matters to them, and describe in what way they would like to engage for its benefit. For instance, a student can decide to focus on environmental issues, explain why they think it is fundamental to engage in protecting the environment, and state that they would like to volunteer in a certain association which, i.e., spreads awareness on air pollution.
– At the end of the 1st year: students are asked to complete a one-month non-profit internship in a structure / association / institution which supports the cause that was previously chosen in the engagement letter. The internship must be completed in an organization that is external to Sciences Po and in direct contact with the concerned audiences (Sciences Po really wants to see the students fully engage with the cause, rather than just being locked in an office, doing administrative tasks). For instance: if a student is engaged for feminism, they can complete their internship in a structure helping women who suffered from sexist and/or sexual violence, during which they will participate in support hotlines to help these women, alongside their internship supervisor. An internship report (2-3 pages) must then be submitted, and a completion certificate signed by their supervisor at the organization.
– Throughout their 2nd year: students are expected to do what Sciences Po calls an « independent civic project« . What does this concretely mean? It is quite similar to the « civic internship », but this time, it spans the entire academic year, allowing students to support a long-term project. They need to find an organization not too far from their campus, which accepts to host them all year long (for about 3 hours per week), so they can complete 75 hours of civic work. Regarding the school’s expectations, they are about the same as for the internship, with a primary difference being the format: during these hours out of Sciences Po, students must complete missions related to the cause they defend since their 1st year, with a direct engagement with the concerned audiences. The engagement is evaluated in the same way as the « civic internship ».
– Finally, during the 3rd year: students can, if they wish, complete another independent civic project, but it remains optional. The most important thing is: this is during this year that they are expected to write their Capstone Project (which plays the role of Bachelor’s thesis), which is meant to summarize their three years at Sciences Po, focusing on their engagement through the Civic Learning Programme and the impacts this experience had on them. This written piece is a requirement for graduation from Sciences Po’s Bachelor’s degree.
As you can see, the Civic Learning Programme is a very important part of academic requirements throughout the Bachelor’s degree program, and the administration considers it to be « the spine » of education at Sciences Po. Make sure to understand how it works, and keep in mind it could be very useful to think about potential engagement ideas during your application process.
Students’ testimonies
To be added soon.
Learn more about the Civic Learning Programme here.