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How is France evolving as a study destination?

On the face of it France’s status as a study destination is formidable, if not unassailable. Ranked fourth in the world, according to UNESCO statistics, behind the US, UK and Australia, France has welcomed around 290,000 students a year for the last couple of years, or 7.2% of the international student body.

French in Normandy in Rouen is one of the buoyant French language schools that is a member of Groupement FLE

Fioraso also promised to aid students passage to employment post-graduation, clawing back the damage done by 2010's 'Circularise du Mai'

This is an increase of 85% since 1998, when France’s doors were really opening, and since 2010, this is an increase of 11%.

So, it came as a surprise to some when France’s Higher Education Minister Geneviève Fioraso claimed in May that the country’s position as a top non-English speaking destination for international students was “fragile”.

“Our country has lost ground in the last 10 years” Fioraso said ,”going from third to fifth place in the ranking of the most attractive countries for higher education [rankings do depend on the source].”

She continued, “The impact has not only been quantitive but also, more importantly, qualitative. The best students, particularly in science, are turning away from our country to find better destinations for their education.”

In response to the perceived crisis the minister proposed extended two-to-three year visas (matching Australia in terms of generosity and contrasting sharply with the UK scrapping its post-study work visa), rolling out French language lessons to all non-French speaking students and a range of other initiatives to ease the stay of international students.

Fioraso also promised to aid students passage to employment post-graduation, clawing back the damage done by 2010’s ‘Circularise du Mai’ which restricted non-EU students’ rights to live and work in France.

Morocco, China, Algeria, Tunisia and Senegal comprise the top five countries of origin for France’s international student population, so it is not hard to see how this measure was adversely impactful.

More controversially, Fiaroso has mooted the approval of English medium education

More controversially, Fiaroso has mooted the approval of English medium education, currently prohibited at universities for most courses. It is a prospect that has split politicians and academics, but a facility that has paid dividend for destinations such as the Netherlands, Germany and Malaysia who have seen according increases in their international students populations.

The frontline organisation charged with selling France’s higher education overseas (74% of foreign students are enrolled at a French university) is government agency, Campus France. The PIE News spoke to CF’s director of promotion Olivier Chiche-Portiche last month. Chiche-Portiche explained that France that the fragility of which Fiaroso spoke was down to its relative ‘newbie’ status:

“UNESCO says we are the biggest non-Anglophone study destination but it is important to keep our marketing efforts up, because we started quite late as a country. I guess we had a reputation for offering high quality education but we felt we didn’t feel the need to take it to other countries.”

Groupement FLE, a body representing the French language teaching sector, feels that France retains a USP. “France is certainly having to share students wanting to learn French with other destinations, notably Canada,” says the organisation’s president, Patrick de Bouter.

“Meanwhile, other languages, particularly Spanish, are becoming more and more popular with younger learners. But France still benefits from its worldwide exposure, as it is spoken in most parts of the world.”

Forecasting capacity constraints

Campus France and Groupement FLE recognise that various factors will define the ebb and flow of student numbers in the future, such as whether other host countries relax or restrict further visa constraints. But capacity is an issue too – both in terms of educational facilities and housing:

“100, 000 new international students have joined France during the past 10 years,” a CampusFrance spokesperson reminds, “and so the French higher education system may find it difficult to host hundred of thousands more students in the 10 years to come.”

“In France there is still some scepticism about private operators profiting from education”

Minister Fioraso has said that she wants 40,000 new student houses built by 2017, anticipating the increase, one that could be assisted by more students coming from Africa (Francophone Africa already accounting for 50% of France’s HE students), South Korea, Brazil, Russia, India and China (France’s second biggest host country).

While the government is clearly providing infrastructure and incentives, Chiche-Portiche admits that, despite liaison with education agents in India, Brazil and Turkey, they are not considering formal training certificates for agents:

“Maybe we should consider these things, but it’s not our position at the moment. In France there is still some scepticism about private operators profiting from education so we need to come to an arrangement that makes everybody happy.”

ELS SKEMA center entrance LR

ELS’s new pathway centre at Skema Business School in the south of France

In the private sector agents are already used, of course. Institutions like Skema Business School, whose MSc in Financial Markets and Investments is ranked 10th in the world by the FT, use agents to assist their establishment of global campuses.

Their sites currently include Paris, Lille, Nice, Suzhou, China and Raleigh, North Carolina in the US, and, according to Skema’s dean, Alice Guilhon, they plan expansion to Brazil, Russia and Africa – very much in line with minister Fioraso’s vision.

Skema has 6,400 students and is aiming for a 50% international student target; it is currently at 35% with students coming from over 40 countries. It has partnered with US English language giant ELS to launch an on-campus, English-medium pathway programme to its programmes in Nice – a bid to attract more students from markets where English is the preferred language of instruction. [more->]

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