The College of Liberal Arts, where the French langauge courses are offered, is equipped with its own library, language labs, and modern audio-visual classrooms. Each year, more than a thousand students from over seventy countries attend its classes. Depending upon the results, USD students generally enroll in French language and culture courses leading to the Certificate of French Studies, though advanced students are encouraged to take regular course offerings at the university. It blends formal language courses with a dynamic approach to French culture using workshops, conferences, tours of historic sites, and appearances by guest speakers. However, depending upon their level of proficiency, USD students may also take classes in their fields of interest, such as English literature, the sciences, political science, or other foreign languages.
Students normally enroll for twelve credit hours per semester.
Once situated, students will begin their academic year. The French academic year is not divided into quarters or semesters. Instead, students follow the same courses throughout the entire academic year, which ends in June. The program does require previous study of French, ideally two years at the college level or the equivalent. Selection of students for the program is made by the Department of Modern Languages during the month of April.