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STUDYING IN FRANCE

EDUCATION

A look at France’s legion of foreign students

With around 300,000 international students set to begin the new university term in France, we look at who they are, what they're studying, and where you're likely to find them.

Published: 15 September 2015 17:23 CEST
A look at France's legion of foreign students
Most students went back to university this week after the summer break. Photo: AFP
Are you a foreign student in France? You're not alone this year (and keep reading, we may want to talk to you).
 
Judging by the latest statistics gathered by Campus France, an online portal run by the French government that assists students in their university applications, there's likely to be close to 300,000 international students in France this year. 
 
Here's a closer look. 
 
France – a top destination

France is the third most popular destination for international students, following hot on the heels of the US and the UK (which had 740,000 and 428,000 international students respectively). Australia comes in fourth with 250,000. These stats (pictured below), are from Unesco research in 2011.

(Photo: Campus France)

The relatively huge number of international students in France – 295,084 in 2013-2014 – makes up 7 percent of the world's foreign student population.

France welcomes four times as many students as it sends off 

So where do they come from?
 
In 2013-2014, the most represented country among the foreign students in France was Morocco (34,000), followed by China (30,000), and Algeria (22,000). Students from these countries made up 40 percent of the total population of international students. 
 
In Europe (see map below), the most popular origins were Italy (9,322), Germany (8,978), and Spain (6,963).
 
Meanwhile, there were 4,909 who came from the US and 3,982 from the UK. 
 

(Photo: Campus France)
 
Where do they study?
 
Paris is the most popular study destination, with almost 59,000 students burying their noses in textbooks there. Next most popular was nearby Versailles and Créteil. These cities had foreign student populations in 2013-2014 of 24,000 and 22,000 respectively. 
 
Indeed, Paris has a stellar reputation worldwide as a student city, topping the QS 'best student city' rankings for years running. 
 
Other common destinations for students included Lyon (22,000), Lille (15,000) and Toulouse (15,000) – which was recently ranked as the best place to be a student in France. Many cities could boast more than 10,000 students, including Marseille, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Nantes, Rennes, Grenoble, and Strasbourg (see map below).
 

(Photo: Campus France)
 
What exactly do they study?
 
A total of 73.8 of the international students are enrolled in university courses. The most recent stats from Unesco say that there were 24,269 Erasmus students in France in 2011-2012. 
 
Foreign students in France make up 12.1 percent of the total undergraduate population, and 41.4 percent of the doctoral students.
 
As for what they actually study, the graph below shows that most opt for courses in languages, arts, and humanities. The second most popular field was sport sciences, followed by economics. 
 

(Photo: Campus France)
 
So what next?
 
Well, now you know what you can expect and who you might meet – and you can always click the link below to find out more about visas and student life. But wait, there's more. 
 
We are making a push to provide more content for our readers who are international students. If you're a foreigner and you're spending this semester studying in France – then we want to hear from you. Especially if you're keen on getting some of your writing published, or feel like letting us know what's going on around campus. 
 
What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself to us via: [email protected]. And best of luck this semester. 

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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