French universities court world’s brightest students

Higher Education Minister Geneviève Fioraso

France is set to adopt measures that will help draw the world’s brightest students to its universities, according to government ministers. The reforms are meant to improve the experience of foreign students in France and open possibilities for them in the country's job market.

“International students and researchers represent an asset for France. The way we welcome them in our country is very important for France’s academic and scientific influence, but also for our economic competitiveness,” Higher Education Minister Geneviève Fioraso told students during a visit to Cité U campus on Tuesday.

She was accompanied by Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who acknowledged that burdens placed on students, notably requirements to renew visas every year, were sometimes “degrading”.


Measures in the works included changing visa expiration rules, loosening labour laws to permit an easier transition from the classroom to French-based jobs and French-language lessons for students from non-French speaking countries and a rapid build-up of affordable student housing in Paris.

The new package of laws is still to be debated in France’s National Assembly.

France24