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The
preliminaries - Choosing a course
- Choosing a university
Who can enrol, and how?
For
prospective students from non-European
Union countries,
For enrolment as a first-year undergraduate, you must apply through the
French Embassy in your country.
To enrol directly in the third or higher levels of university, apply
directly to the university. In all cases, visa requirements may apply.
For
school-leavers with British
(or other E.U.) nationality , enrolling
in a French university is usually quite simple – just as long
as you
have a reasonable command of French. Once A level (or other high school
graduation) results have been obtained (for A levels, you should
probably have to have passes in at least three subjects), you then have
to write to, or go to, the university and UFR (faculty) in which you
wish to enrol, and request a "dossier d'inscription" (enrolment forms)
and a "demande de validation des acquis" (to obtain French validation
of your UK diplomas). While your application is being processed,
contact the university's International office for information about
accommodation, etc, and then come along at the start of term. Since,
with a few exceptions (check them out!), there is no restriction on the
number of students enrolling in first year at university, your
application should automatically be accepted. (EU rules demand equal
treatment for all EU nationals).
But befrore you bin that UCAS form, weigh up the pros and the cons of
packing up your bags and heading across the Channel for three years or
more on the other side.
The Pros and
the Cons
The Cons:
You've got to be fairly competent
in French
before you start; so unless you already are, you'll probably need to
spend a gap year in France, getting competent in the language. That,
however, will give you a chance to get the know the country first, and
decide if you really are ready for the big plunge. It will also give
you the chance to check out on a few universities.
Depending on the course you follow, you may find that it does not
really help you find a job in
the UK afterwards. That depends very much on what you study.
You'll be living a long way
from home.
But with Ryanair and Easyjet offering returns to the UK from many
French airports for less than £30, that may not be too much
of a
problem. But take care... students acquire a lot of luggage, and excess
baggage can be expensive.
Less social
life on
campus. French universities are really mostly about studying, and far
less about campus life than UK universities. There are lots of hours of
classes each week, and the going can be tough. There is a high dropout (or
chuckout) rate – though generally speaking if you are ready
to work
hard and put in the hours, or you're brilliant, you'll sail through.
The administrative
hassle; in any country, administrative hassle is greater
for foreigners than for locals, and France is no exception.
The
Pros.
The cost! Tuition
fees are about £150 per year in French universities, and
student
residences and restaurants are heavily subsidised. Public transport in
French cities is half the price of the equivalent in British cities, or
less. And if you want social life, of course the wine and the
restaurants are cheap too.
The
experience gained.
After 3 years in a French university, you'll be virtually bilingual
– a
skill that is very useful in a country like the UK where so few people
(outside ethnic minority groups) speak a second language properly.
Besides, if you want to get a job on internationally, experience of
living in at least two countries for good lengths of time is always a
bonus on any CV.
The chance to study in a UK
university
for one year of your course, without paying exorbitant UK tuition fees!
Indeed, if you enrol in a course that has a Socrates or Erasmus link
with a UK university, you can come over to the UK for a year (subject
to availability of places) and study as a "French" student back home!
What's more, you should get a grant ! Further details below
Choosing a
course
One
thing not to choose is "English"…..
or at least, not unless your aim is to become a secondary school
teacher in France or in England. The UK graduate teacher training
programme currently recruits in French universities, so if you want to
become a qualified secondary school teacher in the UK, you can get into
the system with a degree from a French university as easily as with one
for a UK institution.
If you
have a bent for languages, and have A level in French and
Spanish or
French and another language, try "LEA"
(Langues Etrangères Appliquées), which is a joint
degree course run in about 50 universities, and is basically two
languages and business. The business content tends to vary from
university to university, but it can be quite substantial, and
graduates are well placed for management jobs in the international
departments of companies in the UK or France. Here are two or three
university links: Aix-en-Provence,
Avignon,
Besançon ,
Clermont
Ferrand, Lyon II
Otherwise, if you are looking for an arts qualification,
why not study for a degree in French
(called "Lettres" in France) or (French)
history.
This is certainly a good preparation if you want to become a French
teacher back in the UK; and even if you do not, your bilingualism will
be a big asset if you complete your French degree with some short
postgraduate professional qualification.
There's no point in studying law,
unless you want to work in international law.
Economics
courses tend to be far more theoretical
than in the UK system.
Science
courses are
fine – but as with many courses in French universities, you
may find
yourself rather swamped in first year classes, which are often less
specialised than in UK universities.
Medicine
courses
take at least five years, and though there are plenty of places in
first year, the fight for places in second year and beyond can be
serious!
Other subjects that can be studied equally well in the UK or in France
include geography,
sociology, linguistics, pharmacology, and various other
less common disciplines.
Which University?
Points
to consider:
Transport connections
Size of university and town
Click here for an overview of Higher education in France
Transport:
Almost all French university cities are easily accessible from the UK
either by low-cost flight, or by Eurostar, with connections to the
French TGV system at Lille. You can connect at Lille (same platform) to
direct TGV's from Besançon in the east to Rennes in the
west.
But if you plan on driving back and forth to the UK, you'll be better
off staying within 400 miles of Calais. that puts you within 8 hours
drive of London. That puts the limit at an arc running through
Strasbourg, Besançon, Dijon, Poitiers, Angers and Rennes.
Which
university town?
In
short, the answer for most candidates will be "anywhere but Paris".
While a degree from the Sorbonne carries weight, getting into the
Sorbonne can be hard, as Paris universities operate a redistribution
system for excess candidates. You may apply for the Sorbonne, then be
told you have to study at "Nanterre", a sprawling campus in the
northern suburbs, between high rise housing estates and railway tracks.
Paris has more than a dozen universities, most of them in the suburbs;
so if you really want to study in Paris, apply rather to another
central university (such as Paris III, good for languages), or to one
of the more attractive suburban universities such as Creteil. And be
warned, accommodation in Paris is not cheap! Even for students!
Try
provincial France...
As a foreign student, you will find it easier integrating into French
student life and society by enrolling in a provincial university. There
are big universities in big cities like Lyons, Lille or Toulouse. There
are big universities in medium-big cities like Bordeaux,
Grenoble, Montpellier, Rennes, Nancy and Strasbourg. And there are
smaller universities in a lot of lesser known, but attractive, regional
centres such as Aix-en-Provence, Amiens, Angers, Avignon,
Besançon, Caen, Clermont Ferrand, Dijon, Orleans, Le Mans,
Limoges, Nice, Pau, Poitiers, etc. In many respects, it is in the
smallest university towns that integration is easiest.
A word of warning however… Universities in the south of
France get a
lot of applications from foreign students, and thus tend to be less
responsive, and less generous in the way they treat them. There are
accommodation shortages for students in many towns, and in recent years
they have affected, among others, Aix en Provence, Montpellier and
Grenoble.
So if you're interested, get onto the universities' websites, read up
about them, write (in French) to the department you are interested in,
and even go over and visit.
Let's build tomorrow's Europe today. What are you waiting for?
A list of links to French university sites can be found at: http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/cdemello/fr.html
A year in a French university
There
is plenty of opportunity for students in other countries to undertake a
year of their degree course in a French university, under the Erasmus
or Socrates programme. But in order to benefit from this EU funded
programme, and the grants that go with it, a student must be enrolled
in a university department (or faculty) that has a Socrates link with a
French university department. The Erasmus/Socrates programme operates
on the basis of bilateral exchanges betwen university departments, and
in most cases French universities will only enroll students
who are sent as an officially recognised Socrates student by a partner
institution.
It
is often possible, however, for students in departments that do not
have an exchange programme, to take up unused places available in other
departments; but this is entirely discretionary, and each department
and university has its own rules.
If
you plan to study chemistry at university, but like the idea of a year
in France, it is would be a good idea to find out first, and apply to a
UK chemistry department that has an existing and operating exchange
programme with a French university. Generally speaking, UK universities
do not fill all the exchange places that they have negotiated with
their French partner institutions.
Language Courses in France
Before
choosing a language course in France, you should ask the following
questions:
1. Paris or provincial France?
2. Private school or course run by a university or
an official organisation?
3. Course offering accommodation
4. Private tuition, or very small group, or
traditional language school classes
5. Course offering just tuition, or tuition and
cultural and sporting activities.
Paris
or the provinces? Some of the relative
advantages and disadvantages of studying in Paris are dealt with above.
The disadvantages of Paris are far less when it is a matter of a short
stay, and of course with language courses, it is you, the student, who
will choose where to study. However, Paris is still a big city, still
expensive, and if you are thinking of a summer course in August,
remember that Paris can be very hot.
Private
school, university or public organisation?
Obviously, the choice of locations is far greater if you decide to
choose a private school. Some are excellent, but others - notably those
that just open for the summer months - may employ relatively
inexperienced teachers. If you are thinking of choosing a private
school, check its credentials first.
Apart from private schools, the
best-known choice is the Alliance
Française, the French equivalent of the British
Council, which has been in the business of teaching French and French
culture for generations. Then there are three or four reputed centres
attached to universities; the Centre
de Linguistique Appliquée at
Besançon, CAVILAM
at Vichy, and the CAREL
at Royan, on
the Atlantic coast.
Schools situated in university towns and
cities often have the advantage of being able to offer cheap subsidized
student accommodation in halls of residence, notably during the summer
vacation period.
For a fairly full list of links to language schools in France, visit
lefrancais.com.
For all other
criteria, it is best to check out the
individual websites of different schools.
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