The Canadian Political Science Association is doing Laval a great honour in holding its annual meeting here and in asking some of us to contribute to its scientific discussions. We thank the Association very warmly indeed and we are happy that this occasion affords us the opportunity for new and fruitful contacts.

It was suggested that this paper should put forward our ideas relating to the teaching of social sciences. I will do so as simply as possible, without the slightest intention of imposing it upon anyone. In order to be more concrete and more concise, I shall try to set forth, as objectively and as unassumingly as possible, what is being done at Laval and why it is done. It must be kept in mind, at the outset, that the institution I want to report upon is still very young, still in a formative stage, still involved in initial experiments and, hence, still far from having found its final shape.

It is then my intention to put before you our conception of social studies and, at the same time, to describe the faculty which has been set up according to this conception. Since any systematic study always involves two things: a subject-matter and an aim for which it is studied, my remarks will simply follow this sequence pattern.