From sophisticated cities to historical medieval towns featuring beautiful castles, to golden beaches and blue Mediterranean, to verdant forests and rugged mountains, to celebrated culinary tradition, France has it all to make you fall in love with it.
Éclair, pain au chocolat, macarons, and other famous French pastries are something that everyone talks about while talking about France. But France is definitely much more than the glorious Eiffel Tower, the sassy Parisians and Yves-Rocher beauty products.
Here is our list of seven reasons (among many other) as to why this nation of great thinkers and philosophers like Albert Camus, Marcel Proust, Moliere, René Descarte, etc. is a great place to study abroad.
Go public: Pay peanuts
You got it right, you can study in a French Public University for as low as 250 euros (INR 30,000) a year as tuition fee. If you plan on doing masters in a public University, you’d be spending as low as INR 40,000-50,000/year, which is nothing as compared to the States and the UK.
As per the QS World University Rankings 2018, about 39 French universities are included in it. Two of the nation’s top runners –Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris and Ecole Polytechnique, ParisTech—are among the world’s top 60.
It is true that public Universities in France are less-expensive than the private ones but even the leading private Unis in France have the lowest tuition fee in the world.
Student friendly cities
You must have heard about Paris but did you know that cities like Marseille and Toulouse are the most student friendly cities in France. And when we say student friendly, we mean everything ranging from cost of housing, nightlife, transport, and culture in general.
Government Housing Aid and Health benefits
When you are a student in France, the government understands that you do not earn bomb, and that you need financial aid. Depending upon your financial condition government readily shells out up to 250 euros as housing aid for students as well as those with low wages.
Health insurance is compulsory for everyone in France. Once you have it, almost 70% of the doctor’s fee is automatically reimbursed through the health insurance service provider.
Broadened Employment Scope
A student on long-stay visa is France is allowed to work for 20 hours a week. So while on your student visa, you may work at restaurants, schools, hotels, museums, etc. The day you receive your masters’ degree, you become eligible to apply for APS (Authorization provisoire de séjour) that lets you stay in France and look for a job related to your field of study. As of 2017, the gross minimum wage is 9, 76 euros/hour.
Tutoring Opportunities for Anglophones
Anglophones have another benefit of studying in France: they can even teach English to the natives as that is one language they are eager and motivated to learn unlike in the UK and the States.
Endless Discounts for Students
Most airlines provide free extra baggage facility for students flying from India to France. The entry of students below 26 years is either free or is at a discounted price in most Museums, parks and other tourist attractions. If you’re below 28 years, you can benefit from various train travel cards to enjoy low-cost travelling within and outside France.
After two years of higher education in France, you’re eligible to benefit from a 5-year tourist visa to France.
Opportunity to Learn the Sexiest ‘accent’ in the World
When the French speak English it’s sexy, when they speak French, it’s sexier. As per a new poll published by language learning app Babbel, in the beginning of August, the French accent is voted the ‘sexiest in the world’. While you are in France, surrounded by people that speak very little or no English, your only way to immerse yourself in the culture would be to learn the language and sound sexy!
