French PM Philippe opens the Rencontres Campus France and introduces actions of “Bienvenue en France” strategy

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe opened the 2018 edition of the Rencontres Campus France (Campus France Meetings) dedicated this year to Francophonie (French-speaking world and culture). Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Jean-Basptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, were also present to speak to 400 participants, representatives of French institutions and research entities, diplomatic posts and bi-national and foreign institutions. 

Philippe started by reminding the importance of Francophonie, “a language of communication and creation, [but also] a language of education” to win “the battle of international competition between systems of higher education and research”. He praised the work of the Francophonie University Association (FUA) and Campus France, and defined the objective to significantly increase the number of joint degrees and agreements between institutions to boost international mobility of students and reach 500,000 students in mobility in France by 2027. 

Faced with continuously sharper international competition, France must strive to stay a major player of higher studies globalisation. This is why we present today the “Bienvenue en France” strategy. Edouard Philippe, Rencontres Universitaires de la Francophonie (at Cent-Quatre Paris, November 19, 2018)

Better reception

The first keypoint of the national strategy for soft power directed to international students relies on the improvement of welcome conditions, and so as early as the very first contact with the French government services. 

Several actions target the issuance of visas:

• Standardisation and simplification of documents necessary for a request for a studies visa,
• Online applications for studies visas,
• Online visa validation after arrival in France,
• Priority to studies visas processing near the start of academic year period.
• Possibility to come back to France to work or create a company with a residence permit, for foreign students holders of a French degree equivalent to the Master’s degree.

A special stress will be put on the development of a true welcome culture with the objective to standardise all good practice already existing in French institutions:

• Creation of a “Bienvenue en France” certification granted by Campus France to institutions improving their reception of foreign students in practical ways,
• Creation of a 10 million Euros seed fund by the Ministry or Higher Education, Research and Innovation to support institutions’ initiatives as early as the start of academic year 2019,
• Systematisation of welcome desks,
• Follow-up of each foreign student with a contact person,
• Facilitation of access to accommodation with the deployment in English of the Lokaviz platform, and the creation of the Maison des Etudiants Francophones (House of French-speaking Students) at the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris,
• Doubling of courses in French as Foreign Language (FLE in French) and courses taught in English. 

Ensure better financial equity

To ensure better financial equity, the government will implement a series of actions on two levels:

1. International students not nationals of the European Union, the European Economic Area, Andorra or Switzerland will now have to pay university tuition fees equal to a third of the real cost of their course, i.e. 2,770 Euros in a Licence course, and 3,770 Euros in a Master course. Only international students coming to France with a VLS-TS visa for the academic year 2019/2020 and enrolling for the first time in French Higher education system will be subejct to this new, differentiated tuition rate. 
    
2. The number of scholarship granted to foreign students will be increased threefold to continue to support less wealthy students: 15,000 scholarships of tuition fees exemptions will be granted by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, through diplomatic posts, and 6,000 additional scholarships will be granted by institutions, at their own initiative. 

In total, 1 international out of 4 may benefit from exemption or from a scholarship. 

International soft power 

The government wants to foster the implementation of French institutions abroad, in the wake of what the ESSEC in Singapore and Rabat, Ecole Central in Beijing and Casablanca, and Paris Dauphine in Tunis already do. The government decided to support:

• scouting processes from French institutions, through the creation of a 5 million Euros seed fund from the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, 
• the implementation of projects among the most solid and relevant, through the creation of a 20 million Euros/year support fund, starting in 2020.

Discover all actions of the “Bienvenue en France” strategy in the press release