Introduction
France is one of the most popular destinations for international students. Each year around 300’000 students opt for a move to France to study in one of the 3500 higher education institutions of the country. The reasons behind this choice are easy to guess:
- Compared to other countries, for example the UK and US, tuition fees in France are much less expensive;
- French is the third most spoken language in Europe and fifth language with most speakers all over the world: as such, it is a much-appreciated asset to add to your CV;
- You don’t know French? No worries! Many higher education programmes (over 1200!) offer English courses;
- The French government invests a large part of France’s budget in research, innovation and education;
- France hosts some of the most prestigious universities in the world: graduating here means earning a world-renowned qualification.
Since the country attracts a lot of students from all around the globe, student communities in France are very diverse: over 12% of students enrolled in higher education are internationals. That’s around 3 million people!
Education, qualifications, credit system
Higher education in France follows the 3+2 European scheme, also known as the LMD: Licence, Master and Doctorat.
Licence is the equivalent of a first level degree of the duration of three years (L1, L2 and L3). You can apply to a first level degree after obtaining a baccalauréat (often shortened as ‘BAC’) which is a high school diploma. To qualify for a Licence you will have to complete 180 ECTS (European credits) during your time at university.
Masters are structured in a similar way to the rest of the continent. Their duration can vary depending on the institution, but in the most common case a Master has a duration of two years (M1, M2) and will be awarded upon completion of the required 120 ECTS. There are many different types of masters that you can do in France: some will be more oriented towards the job industry, while others are more appropriate for students who wish to pursue an academic or research career. These two kinds of masters are:
- Master Professionnel, often referred to as Masters Pro: it has the goal of introducing graduates to a professional environment and it involves the opportunity to do a long stage (internship) during the last months of the master;
- Master Recherche: this is the master course directed at pupils who would like to further their education to a higher level, applying to doctorates and research projects.
Lastly, a Doctorat is a qualification awarded by one of the over 300 research institutes on French territory (Écoles Doctorales) that are entrusted with the task of supervising the formation of doctoral students. In most cases a doctoral programme will last 3-4 years and is financed through stipends offered by universities (contrat doctoral), independent research institutes or alternatively public and private companies (contrat CIFRE). It is also possible to fully or partially fund a PhD by obtaining scholarships and awards.
Grandes écoles
One of the peculiarities of the French education system are the grandes écoles. Grandes écoles are institutes of higher education that have achieved the highest standards in terms of prestige and academic excellence. For this reason they are characterized by extremely competitive selection criteria and they tend to have a higher international turnout (non-French students are 20-30% of the total student population). While normal universities can be accessed quite easily with just a baccalauréat, grandes écoles have a tougher application process that usually involves participating in calls for applicants or enrolling in two years-long preliminary courses (classe préparatoire) during your last years of high school.
Grandes écoles offer courses in these fields:
- Engineering
- Management
- Architecture
- Political Science
- Journalism
- Art and design
- Veterinary medicine
Attending a grande école paves the way for many attractive job prospects after graduation: it is estimated that around 90% of their graduates manage to land a job within 6 months of obtaining a degree. 8 out of 10 of these newly-hired graduates are on course to find permanent, full-time employment within the first year of contract.
There are around 300 grandes écoles in France. They mostly award BAC+5 and BAC+8 qualifications (baccalaureate + 3 years of Licence + 2 years of Masters + (optional) 3 years of Doctorat). Other universities, by comparison, tend to offer a more varied prospectus that includes short programmes that allow students to access professional employment within just 2-3 years of completing their baccalaureate.
How to apply
So, how can you send an application to study in France?
In recent years the French education system has introduced a centralized tool to manage applications. It was created to help students navigate the thousands of courses offered in the country, making the application process easier to manage: Parcoursoup (https://www.parcoursoup.fr/).
To be able to send your application(s) to French institutes of higher education you will have to create a personal dossier on Parcoursoup. This dossier will have to include all the required documentation to enroll, like for example a record of your grades and your identity documents.
ATTENTION: not every higher education institution in France is part of the Parcoursoup catalogue. For example, this online platform does not include the courses offered by Université Paris-Dauphine, Sciences Po and IEP, some trading schools, art institutes and engineering programmes. Admissions to these courses have to be sent individually to each university, by following the instructions on the respective websites and by keeping in touch with the local International Students Administration.
Deadlines
Applications must be presented a lot in advance of the beginning of the academic year. In France, the academic year is divided into two “semesters” (October-January, February-May) with holidays in the intervals.
If you are about to enroll in the first year of a Licence, you will have to create an account on Parcoursoup and stick to these deadlines (the date might change slightly every year, so make sure to keep up to date with the official websites of the universities of your choice):
- Applications start being accepted from: January 22
- Deadline to select your preferred courses: March 12
- Finalising your personal dossier: April 1
- Application start being processed: between mid-May and mid-July
If you wish to start studying at the beginning of the academic year in October, in most cases you will have to sort out your application by April. In some cases and for the more competitive programmes it is possible that you will have to send in your applications as early as mid-January. If instead you wish to delay the start of your courses to the spring, your deadline to present the application will be around mid-September.
Applying for a doctorate requires a different kind of process. In most cases it might not even involve a call for applicants: candidates for doctorates will approach an École Doctorale individually and will present their research/thesis project for their consideration, pending approval of a supervisor that works in that field and approves of the candidates’ project.
It is of the utmost importance to keep an eye out for deadlines: our tip for you is to keep in mind that most applications will have to be sent approximately between the end of January and March. It has been observed that in France students have higher chances of being accepted if they send in their applications early rather than later, so don’t waste your time!
Required documentation
- Admission/application form: each university has its own kind of form, as does Parcoursoup, so you need to check the website for each course you intend to apply for;
- A complete transcript of your qualifications, including the list of courses you took in each institution you attended, and the grade obtained;
- Identity documents and passport photo;
- Language certificates that prove an adequate knowledge of French or English (depending on what language your course is taught);
- Reference letters from your past tutors, for example a professor or coach;
- An updated CV;
- Access to some of the courses might involve having to pass tests such as the GRE, GMAT, etc.;
- Some universities ask students to complete their application with a personal statement or a short essay that outlines the candidate’s skills and achievements.
Tuition fees
French education is heavily subsidized by the state and can proudly boast about having much more affordable costs than many of its international counterparts (we’re looking at you, UK…). This is one of the main reasons why studying here is such a popular choice among young students abroad.
Public universities
Public universities have very low fees that are the same for every region of France. Students coming from EU and EEA countries will pay the following:
- 170€/year for Licence;
- 243€/year for Master;
- 601€/year for some Engineering courses;
- 380€/year for Doctorat.
International students that come from outside of the European Union will incur in higher prices that are still quite affordable if compared to other countries:
- 2770€/year for Licence;
- 3770€/year for Master;
- 380€/year for Doctorat (au pair with UE students).
Private universities
If the course that you would like to attend is not included in the list of courses offered by public universities, you will incur in much higher fees per year.
Tuition to study in a grande école varies from institute to institute, starting at 600€/year and reaching sums as high as 10’000€/year.
Tuition to study in a private university can be priced anywhere between 1500€ and 20’000€ per year of courses.
Business courses are among the most expensive in the country, they are priced differently than most other courses and can cost anywhere between 5’000 and 30’000€ every year.
CVEC: what is it, how much does it cost and how to pay
On top of these yearly rates for tuition, every student enrolled in a higher education course is required to pay the CVEC, Contribution de vie étudiante et de campus, which is to say a small yearly contribution set at 91€ with small variations each year. The goal of this fixed tax is to help finance projects and initiatives to improve the student experience in university campuses. From 2018 onwards, the CVEC is also a prerequisite to access free healthcare that France offers for its students. Paying for the CVEC is easy and can be done online following these steps:
- Create an account on the website http://messervices.etudiant.gouv.fr/ ;
- Once registered, visit https://cvec.etudiant.gouv.fr/ ;
- Select the city where you will be studying and pay for the CVEC with your credit or debit card;
- Download the receipt of your payment, you will need it to complete enrolment at your uni!
Some students might be exempt from paying the CVEC: this is the case of CROUS scholarship holders, students with a refugee status and some students enrolled in courses for the formation of medical personnel. If you are exempt from the CVEC you will be asked to complete the online process to declare the reason for your exemption.
Know the language
Most French universities, particularly public ones, require obtaining a B2/intermediate on the DELF test (Diplôme d’Etudes en Langue Française) to be admitted to study in France. In some rare instances, institutions might require a score of C1/advanced on the DALF test (Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française). Both these certificates required to access higher education have a lifelong validity, contrarily to many of their English equivalents such as the TOEFL or IELTS that are only valid for 2 years.
Other tests to verify your level of knowledge of French are the TCF (Test de Connaissance du français, released by France Éducation international of Sèvres), also known as TCF-DAP, or alternatively the less common TEF (Test d’Evaluation de français, released by the French Chamber of Commerce).
If you are enrolled in English-taught courses, your university might require you to pass English tests (IELTS, TOEFL, Cambridge…). Check the website of the course you are applying for to find out what language test you need.