University and higher education courses in France : CampusFrance

I don't know about other countries since I've never searched extensively within those, but I feel that France has a HUGE number of universities and tertiary education institutions, and courses. Even the tiniest little towns in the middle of nowhere with tiny populations seem to have unis or 'écoles'.(schools). I'm guessing this is because of the historical significance of higher education in France... Anyway if you are looking to study in France here are some useful links for you to find the course of your dreams.

I find that the site has a wealth of information but it's structured very badly so it can be hard to find the information you need. I hope my list makes it easier for you.

Whole list

Bachelor (Licence) courses
Masters courses
Doctoral courses

Courses taught in English - Note that for having the privilege of a course taught in English you'll most likely have to pay high fees, something like 6000-10,000 euros. Business/MBA and artistic/creative courses are also very expensive. Only normal or 'common' courses are inexpensive (few hundred euros).

Artistic/creative courses (from homepage CampusArt)

Grants/scholarships (bourses) to study in France (CampusBourses)

It's important to check
* cut off date for applications (apply well in advance)
* pre-requisites, need Bachelors or Masters degree already? age requirements (many courses seem to have age cut-offs which is ageist but anyway..., need special skills or work experience? need a portfolio/showreel/ etc?)
* fees (tarifs) Unfortunately not all sites show this! Generally if they don't show it, I just assume it's expensive, in the vicinity of close to 10,000 euros.
* visa requirements if you are not EU European.

This site (Lyon Campus) has some useful information.

Most students finances come from a variety of sources : personal savings, parental or state help, a job… 

Your student status will entitle you to reductions on transport, leisure activites… However, be careful to plan your budget for being in France in as much detail as possible. You will need at least 600 euros a month to live decently and possibly 800 euros the first month to meet the expense of settling in.  

Reminder : you will need a minimum of 430 euros monthly revenue in order to obtain a resident’s permit !  

An idea of the cost of living in Lyon

• Accommodation : 350 to 600 euros a month for a studio or a one-roomed flat, known as a T1 
• Monthly electricity, gas and telephone bill : 60 euros on average 
• City transport : 11.90 euros for a book of 10 tickets valid on the bus, tram and metro (or monthly subscription 25 euros) 
• High speed inter-city train from Lyon to Paris : 60 euros if you have a 12-25 card, which also costs 49 euros a year, 120 euros if you have no card. You can buy ‘Prem’s’ tickets on internet. These are very cheap, but it is a good idea to plan your trip three months in advance. http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ 
• Food : about 200 euros a month 
• A meal at one of the university restaurants : 2.90 euros 
• A meal at a pizzeria (with desert, but no drink) : 15 euros 
• A 250 g stick of French bread : 0.80 euros on average 
• A ticket for the cinema : 6 or7 euros on average, student price 
• Ticket for a show : 4 euros with the Culture Pass (Pass Culture)  

France is different from other countries in that it gives considerable indirect financial help to each student by assuming practically the whole cost of higher education in public institutions, both for French students and foreigners. The real cost of higher education is around 6000 euros per student, per year, on average. 

Having a job at the same time as being a student 

In France there is a minimum legal wage, known as the SMIC (Salaire minimum interprofessionnel de croissance). The gross hourly wage is 8.71 €, that is before obligatory social contributions have been taken off (around 20% per hour). You should not be paid less than this ! 

• The fact that you have a student resident’s card or a long stay student visa entitles you to have a paid job, without asking for special permission. 
• However, your job must not exceed 964 hours a year. The prefecture can withdraw a student’s resident card if this limit is not respected. 
• A foreign student can only be hired after the employer has registered his or her name at the prefecture that issued the resident’s card, or for a foreign student holding a long stay visa, at the prefecture of the place where he or she lives. This formality must be done at least 2 days before starting the job. 
• Registration includes a copy of the student’s resident’s card or long-stay visa. The nature of the job, length of contract, number of hours to be worked annually and starting date should be stated. 
• You must obtain permission to work if you wish to have a paid job during your studies. 
• An application form must be sent in to the DDTEFP. This must include a job contract or promise of a job. 
• Permission is limited to 50% of the yearly work quota 

Happy researching! :)

Internships in France for Australian university students

I stumbled upon this Word doc which came from this page of the French Embassy in Australia (L'Ambassade de France en Australie).

In it, are some appalling statistics:

The number of Australians studying overseas is low : only 1% of Australian students

- 370 Australian students in France (compared to 3000 French students in Australia)

- Internships with companies are not commonly part of Australian university life. But, French companies in Australia are used to welcoming French interns

- Dynamism of French Industry represented by no fewer than 250 French companies established and operating in Australia

- Limited French language skills (only 2.5% of the High School student population learn French)

- Satisfying numbers of students enrolled in the first year level in French in University Departments but attendance quickly petering out in subsequent years.


The lucky chosen students get to spend

- 12 months (6 months in Australia, followed by 6 months in France)
- or possibly 6 months (3 months in Australia, followed by 3 months in France)

and paid up to $30,000 for their internship work.


Ten global French companies are involved:

- EADS (Airbus/Australian Aerospace),
- Thales,
- Turbomeca,
- Suez Degremont,
- BNP Paribas Australia,
- Alstom,
- Areva T&D,
- Veolia Transport,
- Total, and
- Altios International

How good is that!!


What can I say?

When I was in high school it was NOT compulsory to study a foreign language. When I was in early high school the only languages offered were French and German, then later Japanese and Indonesian. (I know that now Chinese Mandarin and Arabic are the 'hottest' languages to learn). I ended up deciding to do Japanese for my final high school exam, which is definitely something I've not regretted. Although I can't speak much now I can still read it and understand some of it when others are talking... but I'm getting off the topic.

Until a few years ago I'd never even heard of doing an internship (un stage) overseas whilst at university. I don't know about these days but when I was in university the internships weren't even that well organised. You had to find your own company and you only went for a few weeks, not a few months. You had to do everything on your own and there wasn't much support from the university nor the company and very very few people got hired after their time was up. There was no 'credit' system like in the US either. It might have just been my course and/or my university, but I know that our 'system' is far inferior to that of North America, Asia and Europe.

Going to a university that's away from one's own city is basically unheard of, so doing an internship overseas is even more unheard of although the overseas exchange program has always been in place. My sister did an exchange, and I know friends who did it, and people who are doing an exchange right now.  I had the opportunity to do one too (in England or Germany) but my marks weren't good enough :( nor did I have adequate funds to support myself over there. Some students from my German partner university came over and we had a great time getting to know them, so in a way I guess it was fun to live the experience through their eyes.

On that note, when I was in high school, we also had an exchange student come over from Europe, from Norway. Suffice to say, I'm kind of jealous of these European kids that have all these opportunities... Being at the bottom of the world in the middle of nowhere makes it hard to 'connect' with the rest of the world.

I think this is an amazing program and I'm sure those who are smart enough and motivated enough to get into such a program will do very well in their future careers. This program only started this year in January 2010 so let's hope it'll get bigger and better in upcoming years and strengthen those Franco-Australian relations! :) and that more Australian students realise the benefits of 1) studying a foreign language both in high school and university and 2) studying and/or working overseas.


As every French person seems to know, if Australia was discovered by La Perouse only 8 days earlier, before The First Fleet had arrived, we would probably be a French-speaking country now, or we would be like Canada and speak both French and English!

Studying in France II CNOUS CROUS

I previously wrote about my confusions towards the French university system. The more I read, the more confused I got!

However, I just stumbled upon this 36 page PDF document which explains clearly (in English!) (almost) everything you need to know about studying at an university in France. I wished I found it earlier! It is from cnous.fr the "institutional portal for student life" (seems like a computer translation to me ;) )

Studying in France

The other day I was reading this excellent blog post by Kristie in Paris on getting a carte de séjour to stay in France. It addresses getting work, studying or getting married. It's quite a useful and indepth blog post for us non-EU people.

Imagine my shock when I read up to the part which said:

The problem is that you must be studying to further your existing studies. I tried to get a student visa with a confirmation from Alliance Française that I was a registered student. The visa application asked for a copy of my educational qualifications. My law degree obviously isnt relevant to my French language study, so I didnt provide it. What a nice surprise when the guy at the embassy told me that studying French in France just didnt cut it.

I wrote this post in November last year and got all the information from Alliance Française Lyon website, but obviously it's incorrect because I then went to the French embassy website which says clearly:

Student Visa

To be considered as a student in France, you have to be enrolled full time in a public or private educational establishment, approved by the French authorities, and of which studies are endorsed by a French State Diploma. Studies must be related to the Diplomas obtained previously or your current professional occupation.

Therefore, the following will be considered as students in France:
• Applicants pursuing academic studies at a University or High School;
• Adults willing to spend a year in a French College full time;
• Professionals on training to acquire or complete a professional qualification;
• French courses leading to a post-graduate diploma.

People enrolled in a French language school are not considered as students and therefore have to apply for a Long Stay Visa without Work for Metropolitan France.

Please note that, from January 2009, all student visa applications have to be formally assessed on academic criteria by a French Government authority. As this new requirement is likely to increase the time needed for processing, applications should be lodged at least two months before departure.

Oh là là ! Quelle horreur ! :(

Meanwhile, this whole time I have been looking at university courses somewhat related to my undergraduate bachelor degree. Problem is, degrees in Australia (or the US) are so different to those in France.

For one thing, almost every French person I know has done a masters, that is a bac+5, ie 5 years of university. There seem to be a lot of these courses where the masters is included, notably at the Grandes Écoles. So you do 3 years of an undergrad bachelor/licence degree/diplôme and then 2 years of a masters/maîtrise.

Sounds simple enough but because so many degrees are combined, you can't just cut in halfway and do the last 2 years of the masters. Then there are masters degrees that require you to have a bac+5. Huh? You need to have done 5 years of university study already to do a masters? Talk about confusing and annoying! I happened to have studied a 4 year degree so where does that put me? Nobody can tell me.

It would be stupid of me to do a licence, not to mention next to impossible as I would have to sit a concours (exam) first, and in most cases it's far easier to go straight for the masters but then I have another dilemma. Most masters degrees require you to have at least C1 level of French. There is no way I can get to C1 level in just a few weeks as a lot of university applications are due in May.

To say that I feel frustrated is an understatement! But when there's a will there's a way, right? I have the will I just need to find the way dammit!

Here's part of an online conversation I had recently to show the confusion between the university 'systems'. ;)

Them: je suis encore étudiant donc non je n'ai pas cours :)
Me: tu as de la chance. qu'est-ce que tu étudies?
Them: business administration!
Me: MBA?
Them: non, master!
Them: :p
Them: comme un MA aux USA, c'est bien ça?
Them: enfin oui MBA en fait
Them: ha ha :D
Me: d'accord :)

PS - Please correct me if the information here is wrong (in the comments), it's just what I've found by reading many French university websites and campusfrance.org etc.

Travel and Study Grants to go and study in France

I accidently stumbled upon this part of the huge website Campus France. You can search for grants that help pay you to go and study in France. How great is that?!

You can sort the list by all sorts of criteria:

• Type of grant (study, research, internship or travel)
• Level (Bachelor (Licence), Master, PhD (Doctorat) or Postdoctoral)
• Subject Area
• Country (ie your country of origin)

Take a peek if you're interested!

Borders, French purchases, So Frenchy So Chic, 2010 French Film Festival

I'm trying to fit a lot of topics into one blog post, but all the topics are somewhat related...

Not long ago I was at Borders and saw some calendars on sale at 50%. I knew if I waited a bit longer they'd go on sale to 75% off (which they have done now) but before that happened, I went to a sale at Myer (department store) and saw the exact same calendar I wanted, which was already at 75% off, so I bought it.

It's this:
Living Language French: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar

It's kind of gimmicky and fun, and comes with a CD with some French music and some audio phrases. Admittedly I would not have bought it at full price but at 75% off it was a steal! and I get to learn lots of random phrases ;)

Today I went back to Borders and saw all these tables with books on sale at 50%. I love going through these tables and seeing what obscure things I can find. I did find some Lonely Planet travel guides and a book about Living/working in France but they get outdated too quickly. I did, instead, buy this quirky thing.

I once bought a magnetic poetry kit and gave it away as a present (to someone who never used it) and I kept telling myself I should've just kept it! But I never ended up buying myself one because they are so expensive. Considering this was slightly more affordable, and that the were only one of them (yet there were multiple Italian ones), I just made an impulse purchase! so now I can write messages to myself in French on my fridge, and my flatmate will be none the wiser! ;)

The French Kit: Magnetic Poetry (French Edition)

The final thing. So while I was browsing though some books at Borders in the study/career section (I really want to do a Masters but I am still torn about which subject to take it in). This section of the bookstore is actually quite good and it's situated next to the foreign language section too... however, I was looking for books on the GMAT and there were only 2 of them. Two! How appalling! Yet directly opposite, there were hundreds of books on IELTS and TEFL. I don't get it. Not only that, but a magazine on Masters courses around the world that I had just seen in the newsagent was not in Borders either (even though they have the largest selection of magazines of any store). Weird!

Anyway, I had another one of those, "Gee I must be going mad moments" because... I could hear French music playing in the store. I noticed it because it changed from a normal English pop song. I made a note to myself to ask the person at the counter (when I paid for the magnet kit) what CD it was. He said he didn't know but I could check some little stand and it has the CDs they play and apparently it gets changed weekly. There were only 3 CDs on the rack (and I find it hard to believe they would only play 3 different CDs for an entire week!) but I found what I was looking for. It's a CD called....

Cartell Music : So Frenchy So Chic 2010
You can also buy it from Amazon.com : So Frenchy So Chic 2010

which is a compilation of fabulous French songs by French singers, and it's also a sponsor to the 2010 French Film Festival.



How gorgeous is this So Frenchy So Chic 2010 cinema trailer?


Track Listing:

Disk 1
1. M. - Belleville Rendez-Vous (Version Francaise)
2. Revolver - Get Around Town
3. Carmen Maria Vega - En Attendant
4. Java – On
5. Amandine Bourgeois – L’Homme de la Situation
6. Phoebe Killdeer – Looking for a Man
7. Mickey 3D - Yula (Ma Fiancée Galactique)
8. Marina - Tout Me Revient
9. F.M. - Certain People
10. Smooth - Music (feat. Amélie)
11. Lilicub – La Belle Vie
12. Coeur de Pirate - Comme Des Enfants
13. Charlotte Etc. – Label Societe
14. Emilie Simon - Rocket to the Moon
15. Doriand – Tombe Pour la France
16. Rose - Yes We Did
17. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Irm

Disk 2
1. Julien Baer - Le La
2. M - Le Roi Des Ombres
3. Nouvelle Vague – Under the Flag (Previously Unreleased)
4. Emmanuelle Seigner - Le Jour Parfait
5. Ridan - Passe a Ton Voisin
6. Charlie - Le Sapin
7. Babylon Circus - Le Fils Caché du Pape
8. Rachid Taha (With Gaëtan Roussel) - Bonjour
9. Congopunq – Candy Goddess
10. Vanessa Paradis - Dès Que J'te Vois
11. Sophie Hunger - Round and Round
12. Ariane Moffatt – Je Veux Tout
13. Jean Corti & Lola Lafon - Gottingen
14. Hindi Zahra - Beautiful Tango Claire
15. Denamur - Le Prince Charmant
16. Alys – Sam Brook
17. Djeuhdjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson – Cool L’Etang


Which brings me to the next and final topic! The 2010 French film festival. I CANNOT WAIT. I love foreign films and I don't believe I've ever been to this before (although I've been to the German one and Japanese one in previous years).

You can view the virtual brochure of all the movies they will be screening here:
Alliance Francaise French Film Festival of Sydney 2010 programme

And as an Alliance Française member I even get a pretty good discount. Woohoo! I want to see them all but there 3 I definitely want to see, and I'm pretty sure I've talked about them all on this blog already ;) Tickets go on sale 28 January.  Je ne peux pas attendre !

Micmacs à tire-larigot
Serge Gainsbourg, vie héroïque

Bellamy
Quelque chose à te dire
Le père de mes enfants
Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante
LOL (laughing out loud)
Non ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser
Ricky
Le premier jour du reste de ta vie
Demain dès l'aube

Pour elle
La première étoile
Dan tes bras
Commis d'office
Le dernier pour la route
Joueuse
Le hérisson
Je vais te manquer

Le code a changé
Rose et noir
Incognito
Le petit Nicolas
Neuilly sa mère !
OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus
Fais-moi plaisir!

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky
Jusqu'à toi
Partir
Mademoiselle Chambon
Les Regrets
Je l'aimais
Les herbes folles

À l'origine
Korkoro / Liberté !
No pasaran
La journée de la jupe
L'armée du crime
Welcome
White Material

La véritable histoire du Chatte Botté
Les enfants de Timpelbach