Study Abroad: 15-20% yearly increase in Indians going to study in France, says Consul General

KOLKATA: France recently announced plans to draw at least 30,000 Indian students to its universities by 2030. The Choose France Tour for Indian students, an annual event across four metro cities, has 50 public and private universities participating. In a conversation with Careers360 , Didier Talpain, Consul General of France in Kolkata, spoke about programmes, scholarships and visas offered to Indian students to study in France. Edited excerpts below.

Q. France is seeking to welcome 30,000 students by 2030. Why and how are you approaching this?

A. Every country, specifically the countries in the West, would like to attract Indian students, and we feel that Indian students are very good. Right now we are getting 6,000 to 7,000 Indian students registering for various programmes in France. Year on year, 15 to 20 percent more students are going to France, we have observed. Our objective is to have at least 30,000 Indian students enrolled in France by 2030.

With this objective, we are doing the Choose France tour which is also an annual event and happens in four cities that is Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. In Kolkata, this time it is on October 11, the tour is the biggest of its kind as representatives from around 50 universities and institutes from France both private and public are participating. We also have some good propositions for the students this time which include some good scholarships and incentives. If we look at the public institutes, apart from the scholarships, the fee is mostly paid by the French government. For private institutes, the students have to pay and it depends on the kind of studies.

Q. Most Indians go to France to study management.

A. More than 65 percent of students go for business and management studies which is the biggest cohort that goes. Our management schools are world-renowned. About 10 percent goes to engineering or STEM-related programmes and the rest go for various other programmes.

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Q. Are you looking to draw students to your undergraduate programmes as well?

A. Yes, this is quite new. We are also giving scholarships for undergraduate programme which was not the case a few years ago. Most of the students now go for business-related curriculum and what we would like is to have more students in the humanities or other fields like design. There is one field where we are very good, which is web design and graphics. We are number two in the world for offering these programmes, the first being Japan.

Q. France offers specially-designed scholarships for Indian students. Could you tell us more?

A. Yes, basically we have quite a lot of scholarships. Our flagship scholarship is named after Georges Charpak, the scholarship that we give from the French Embassy in India. Apart from that, we have also created a special purpose trust, we call it the Franco Indian Education Trust, formed in 2017. The Franco-Indian Education Trust collaborates with French companies and Indian organisations to co-finance scholarships, so we have given scholarships in partnership with the Legrand Company and there are other companies in India which also sponsor scholarships. Through Franco Indian Education Trust, we try to give scholarships for students in specialised subjects. For example, we give scholarships for dance or music or specifically for women pursuing arts studies or culinary studies. We also have a scholarship called a need-based scholarship. But the main scholarship is the Charpak Scholarship and we have a lot of scholarships under the Franco-Indian Education Trust.

For more scholarships, students can look up campusfrance.org. This year we are giving the scholarship to the undergraduate students also. Charpak scholarships are given for undergraduate programmes as well; previously we used to give them for masters or internships or for a PhD-level programme. There is also a scholarship from the French government which is the Eiffel Scholarship, open for students worldwide.

Q. How long will a student be able to stay in France post-study?

A . Up to two years’ post-study visa is given for Indians. Normally post study is of one year but Indian students benefit from a special arrangement. Five or six countries benefit from that arrangement and India is one of those countries. They have the time to find a job and once they get the job, which they usually do, they can apply for a work visa. That is the most generous visa regime for Indians in Western Europe. The legal barriers to finding a job are not very high in France. They need to get a pay package 2.2 times the minimum wage and that they usually do.

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Q. There’s also the alumni programme where you extend the Schengen visa for five years. Who can benefit from this initiative?

A. The five-year visa is given to graduates who have done even one semester in France. Previously, we used to give this only to those who had done their master's or PhD programmes entirely in France. But now, it is applicable for students from any level of study even if they have done one semester in France. So, we are giving the visa to any graduate approaching us saying that they have completed a semester of studies in France as long as five years back. But yes, they will have to show the documents required for that – which year they had completed, the programmes studied and at which university in France, and the transcript of the mark sheet just to prove that they actually studied in France for a semester. By offering this visa, we are trying to attract Indians to our country in different ways.

Correction: In a previous version of the interview, a response had said France will welcome 30,000 students "every year" where the announcement said 30,000 will be enrolled by 2030. This has been corrected. An earlier version also said 40% India students went to study management in France and 15-20% studied engineering. Those figures have now been corrected to 65% and 10% respectively.

Note: A version of this interview will appear in the October issue of the Careers360 magazine.