Beginning of the 2021 academic year: Welcome, international students!
Coming from all around the world, international students are gradually joining their courses at Université PSL. Like every year, they are offered the support of the PSL Welcome Desk team.
Obtain a visa, or even its renewal; find housing; understand the French university system: international students need a helping hand at the start of the academic year. Université PSL was awarded the "Welcome to France" certificate in 2020 and has been committed for several years to offering a personalized, high-quality welcome to its international students. To further improve this support, the PSL Welcome Desk team was renewed and expanded in September. Here is an overview of the complete reception program:
Webinars, digital welcome desk and mentoring program to prepare for arrival
To help future students prepare for their journey, the PSL mentors and student ambassadors organized webinars in June and July. This was an opportunity for initial contact and a first introduction. Throughout the summer, students also had access to a digital service in order to get prepared in several stages for the next administrative procedures (Visa, CVEC tax, insurance policies, etc.) and for their arrival on campus. To better know Université PSL, nothing beats chatting directly with other students! The buddy program establishes a contact between "Local Buddies" (PSL students) and "International Buddies" (international students who have just arrived and are admitted to a PSL program) before they arrive in France, in order to guide them with their first steps in Paris, help them during their first few days, and discuss during the year. This service, funded under the "Welcome to France" call for proposals launched by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, makes possible to pair students and establish "Meet & Greet" reception program.
Meet & greet, welcome pack and welcomes days to prepare the academic year
Since the end of August, many students have been greeted directly at the airport by their buddies or by a member of the PSL Welcome Desk. This first contact provides help in the first RER or metro journey, which is not always easy. It is also the opportunity to deliver a welcome pack including 10 metro tickets, a French sim card and a ticket to see a French movie with English subtitles: everything you need for a first experience in Paris. Afterwards, international students are invited to enroll in one of the "PSL Welcome Days" seminar organized between the end of August and the end of September.
Run by the entire PSL Welcome Desk team and its mentors, these courses enable newcomers to better understand, over a weekend, the main administrative procedures (opening a bank account, obtaining a social security number). They also get the opportunity to meet some of the organizations in their life as a PSL student, such as: members of PSL Sport, various student health insurance companies, and student clubs such as the PSL Union. Students will also meet other students by participating in the activities offered (tours, picnics, museum tours and even a bowling event).
Year-round available services
This integration process is a special time for students to get to know the campus and to identify the people who can help them on campus. Of course, the PSL Welcome Desk is available to them all year round. Feel free to make an appointment, either online or in person, to have a direct and personalized discussion on one or more subjects. Since August, we've already made about a hundred appointments!