The program offers recipients the full cost of an eight-month intensive training course in French as a foreign language and a diploma in French language studies at participating language centres.

The initiative is designed to enable displaced Ukrainian students in France to acquire the sufficient level of language skills to apply to a French higher education institution for the academic year 2023/24.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said a response “has been provided concerning the problem of language ability”.

“Of those students who fled Ukraine and those already settled in France before the war, not all had a sufficient level of French to ensure they were admitted onto their chosen program in France and could thus obtain or maintain student status,” they said.

“To address these needs, the ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Campus France agency are implementing a program of grants for intensive French as a foreign language courses, which will make it easier for students to be admitted to their chosen program in the next academic year.”

With almost €2 million in funding from the ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the initiative offers recipients a minimum of 18 hours per week of in-person lessons, five hours of tutoring, as well as a host of cultural activities.

However, the funding does not cover student accommodation, insurance, travel or the payment of a living allowance.

Since February 2022, 106,000 Ukrainian refugees have resettled in France. Nearly 20,000 Ukrainians are currently registered in the French educational system.

This includes some 2,000 students who have been welcomed into French higher education system, with overall more than 1,500 benefitting from French language courses, according to Campus France.