Campus France Orientation Council: a look back at 10 years of action

The Campus France Orientation Council is a consultative body, and is responsible for making recommendations to the Board of Directors and/or the Agency’s general management. These recommendations may concern the conditions of reception and stay of foreign students and researchers in France. The Orientation Council meets once a year during a constructive debate for all stakeholders of student mobility, since it brings together representatives of the supervisory ministries and the State, conferences of institutions, the CNOUS, local authorities and student associations.

Measuring the progress made

The debates were led by Jean Peeters, a University Professor was appointed President of the Orientation Council in October 2020. After a first meeting led by a newly elected French President in December 2020 on student intake in the context of the health crisis, the 2021 session of the Council, organised in a hybrid format, focused on taking stock of the past ten years in terms of the internationalisation of French higher education.

This meeting made it possible to note the progress made in favour of foreign students and to discuss the various reception actions implemented for this public, including during confinements.

Many tools and activities in the field of health have also been developed for institutions, in conjunction with the French Health Insurance.  

Measuring “the progress made”, the President spoke of a “collective dynamic” that has made it possible to improve the reception, particularly through the implementation of the Bienvenue en France strategy (Welcome to France) in 2018. This strategy initiated the simplification and dematerialisation of administrative procedures (visas and residence permits, health insurance) and created the Bienvenue en France label, which has been awarded to 134 establishments to date (36% universities, 33% engineering schools, 21% business schools).

Proposals in a still uncertain context

During the debates, the members of the Orientation Council emphasised the continuing impact of the health crisis on mobility, issued several recommendations for the year to come, including:

• the continuation of actions to promote French higher education worldwide;
   
• improving information on accommodation and any actions that can be taken to widen the range of accommodation available to international students, particularly before the student arrives in France;
   
• increasing the number of classes taught in English in higher education institutions and communication actions to raise awareness among all those concerned that it is possible to study in France without already being a French speaker;
   
• the continuation of collaboration between institutions (in particular the Prefectures) concerning online visa application procedures;
   
• the deployment of the Etudes en France platform in 2023 for all non-EU countries.

All these proposals have helped the Orientation Council to show that Campus France is at the heart of the policy for welcoming international students. Its action was also praised by the supervisory ministries as well as by the other actors of this policy during this session.