The universities operating under the banner of Campus France are seeking to diversify the range of students studying there from Africa, away from traditional French-speaking countries on the continent.

Institutions are buoyed by the fact they are offering as many as 1,600 degree programmes in English – giving students from across the continent a range of business and engineering degree courses to choose from.

“We want to reach students from English speaking countries in Africa – we want them to know more about us.

“We need them to know that it is possible to study in France – even without being proficient in French,” Matthieu Bragato, marketing manager in the African unit at Campus France, told The PIE News.

The agency has in its portal a “taught-in English” platform from where non-French speaking students can find information on programs in the language, and about the institutions offering them, he added.

Campus France was reaching out to non-French speaking students as one of its recruitment priorities, even as it sought “quality” students from across the board, he said.

“French universities charge “fair” fees when compared to traditional destinations preferred by Anglophone Africa students such as the [US], Canada and United Kingdom.

“This is because the French government has subsidised education,” he noted.

As a result, universities were charging ‘attractive’ fees as low as 2770 euro a year for bachelors degrees, 3770 euro for masters degrees a year, and €380 a year for PhDs.

On the other hand, tuition fees in private institutions ranged from 5000 euro for a year of study, Bragato told a “Choose France” event in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday attended by 12 French universities.

“French universities charge “fair” fees when compared to traditional destinations”

This was not inclusive of students getting access to good healthcare, access to museums and libraries and possible financial support.

Nevertheless, he noted, admission to French universities remained very competitive – and universities simply went for the very best students.

Francophone African countries have some of the highest proportions of international students in European countries, with Morocco leading globally with 46,371 students in 2021.