The ‘Choose France Tour’, a roadshow to promote higher education in France among Indian students, is being rolled out in five cities beginning in Chennai on Thursday.
Hosted by Campus France India and the French Institute in India, the programme will bring Indian students face-to-face with over 40 leading French institutes and universities.
The Bureau de France in Chennai will support the launch of the event in Chennai, followed by Kochi, Hyderabad, Pune and Delhi.
Registration is free and open to all.
The tour will be set against the backdrop of a typical Parisian street. It offers free one-to-one advising sessions with institutions and universities on their graduate, post-graduate and doctoral programmes and information on visas, scholarships and student benefits.
It also facilitates interaction with French enterprises that will guide students and increase their employability prospects and meetings with alumni who will help students understand what it is like to study and live in France, and come back to India with a French degree.
French classes
The event will also feature on the spot French classes, a French raffle “tombola”. Students can register at https://cft.schedul.org/
According to the schedule, the roadshow will be held in Chennai on Thursday, followed by Kochi (February 2), Hyderabad (February 5), Pune (February 7) and Delhi (February 9).
According to a note from the French Consulate, the roadshow is the flagship of the French Institute in India‘s endeavour towards fostering education partnerships between France and India. In the words of Ambassador of France to India, Alexandre Ziegler, “France has increasingly become a preferred mobility option for Indian students. We are very close to reaching our aim to welcome 10,000 Indian students by 2020.”
Thematic sessions
The tour will include 5 thematic sessions by French experts — Electric vehicle and smart mobility; Marine sciences and technologies; Agronomy, agriculture and food process; Aeronautics and Aerospace and a panel discussion on partnerships + Focus Art. In Delhi, a job fair will run concurrent to the tour.
France ranks third globally among countries welcoming the highest number of foreign students — over 7,000 Indian students are currently pursuing higher education in France this year, mostly via the English medium.
As this number increases rapidly, the French Embassy in India is committed to encourage this positive trend with supporting initiatives.
Attractive visa policy
The Embassy has developed a highly attractive visa policy for Indian students, which includes the possibility of a two-year post graduation employment visa in France. Furthermore, five-year short-stay visas are granted to all Indian alumni who hold a Master's or any post-graduate degree recognised by the French State from French institutes.
Indian alumni with French degrees enjoy many career opportunities in India as well, considering that over 570 French companies, employing more than 3,50 000, have set up operations in India.
The French Government currently invests 1 million euros (₹7 crores ) in over 500 scholarships for Indian students every year.
In order to double this figure, the French Embassy created the Franco-Indian Education Trust in 2017, while Campus France, as a government agency under the Embassy, serves as an information resource for students in planning every stage of their stay in France – helping them define their study plans, choose and apply to programmes, and assist them in the visa process.
For further details, aspirants can visit https://in.ambafrance.org/
-Consulate-in-Pondichery or contact the Communication Section of the French Institute in India +91 9821494248 or comm@ifindia.in
