Student numbers from countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia, which have traditionally been strong markets for universities in the UK and US, are increasing at French universities. According to Campus France statistics from November 2016, the number of students from Nigeria increased by 56% between 2011 and 2015 to 419 students.

This is a small number compared to the 35,000 students who studied in the UK last year, or the 10,600 who went to the US, but the increase is evidence of real potential for future enrolments from a country where the university aged population is expected to increase by 75% in the next 20 years.

Student numbers from countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Ethiopia, which have traditionally been strong markets for universities in the UK and US, are increasing

Meanwhile Ethiopia, where more than 40% of the population is younger than 15 years old, sent 253 students to France last year, a 10% increase from 2011. And students from Ghana, where more than half of the people are under 25, totalled 216 in 2015/16, up almost 4% from 2011.

Chris Maiyaki, director of the National Universities Commission in Nigeria, said France’s reputable science and technical programmes are what attract Nigerian students to study there. “It’s the strength of France’s STEM programmes, their high-research culture, their engineering and aeronautics. It’s also cheaper to go to France than to go to the UK or the US,” he told The PIE News at a recent Campus France Rencontres event in Paris.

France’s engineering schools and business and management schools have each seen their enrolments of African students increase by 5% in the last year. These STEM students are motivated by skills gaps in African countries, where more companies – private and state-run – are providing scholarships for employees to train overseas.

“More and more students are going into STEM subjects than before because all the government scholarships we have with these countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, even Sudan and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. They’re all about STEM studies,” said Olivier Chiche-Portiche, director of Campus France’s marketing and mobility department.

“It’s normal that the English speaking African students go to management schools in France because they were the first to offer programmes taught in English”

The increased number of English-taught degrees is also helping. More than 1,260 courses are now taught in English at French higher education institutions. Acclaimed private business and management schools are leading the way in English-taught degrees, making them an attractive option for English speaking African students.

“It’s normal that the English speaking African students go to management schools in France because they were the first to offer programmes taught in English,” commented Chiche-Portiche.

“In Nigeria and Ghana when we started our promotional tours five years ago, there were only business schools, there were no French universities coming with us because at the time they didn’t release how important and big Nigeria is.”

At the same time, Campus France is working with Alliance Française to expand its in-country French language preparation in key markets including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Ethiopia. Students will study French at home for 18 months before starting their degree programmes in France. Local industry and governments are helping to finance efforts too, said Chiche-Portiche.

“It’s language preparation yes but it’s also how to study in France, how to live in France, and then one year with the university language centre. So it’s a very cheap solution because it’s inside the French university,” he explained.

“France is extremely strategic in making people understand accessibility for non-French speaking countries”

“What we generally try to do is build up a project with one country like we did with Angola and like what we’re doing with Ethiopia right now,” he said referring to initiatives where Campus France shares the costs of the in-country preparation with companies who then fully fund the students’ studies in France.

Learning another language is also what makes France appeal to for English-speaking African students, according to Maiyaki. “It’s such an opportunity because today in the UN system you need a working knowledge of either French, English, Spanish or Arabic,” he said.

“We are moving away from the old colonial mentality that Great Britain is the best. We want to benefit from the whole world, cash in on economies of large scale and education will be the defining moment in the trajectory for us.”

William Ogara, directer of the centre for international studies at the University of Nairobi, said he started noticing Campus France’s efforts to recruit from anglophone African countries two years ago. “Now it is really like a national brand,” he told The PIE News. “France is extremely strategic in making people understand accessibility for non-French speaking countries. It’s strategically good, it is timely and it is going have a multiple effect.”

“It’s not just students to come in and learn French, or learn about French culture”

Similarly, Ama de Graft Aikins, dean of international programmes at the University of Ghana, noted an increased push to expand into Africa by French universities. “It’s not just students to come in and learn French, or learn about French culture. It’s about students coming in to learn different disciplines, usually taught in English,” she said. “So I think it’s a whole new frontier really. I think students will be more attracted to that kind of wholeness.”

Still, France has work to do to promote itself as a study alternative to African universities or more traditional English speaking study destinations.

A survey carried out by Campus France of more than 2,000 students from 20 sub-Saharan countries found that 66% view France as a difficult country to study in for students from their country. And 16% consider it very difficult.

Almost two-thirds (64%) found obtaining a visa “difficult” and just over half (53%) said the administration of applying is off-putting. This even though figures from the Ministry of Interior show visas approved for sub-Saharan Africans have increased by 17% since 2010.

Meanwhile, 61% of students said the cost of living in France is a barrier to study. Around 40% of African students in Africa have no scholarships, according to Campus France, while 60% have one or more either from France or their home country.

Ogara in Kenya underlined the importance of affordability for African students. “It is an issue. The Kenyan students will not just come here when there is a comprehensive arrangement. The want to make sure that they can afford it and live in dignity.”