Schools

PSL voices | My Etudes en France experience with Campus France

Published April 15, 2024

Are you an international student lost in the application and registration process? Mahammad shares his experience and explains all the subtleties of Campus France & Etudes en France.

If you are an international student in France (like me) or you are planning to be one, you might have heard about Campus France (let’s call it CF in this text). But what is it?

If we explain it in simple words, CF is an organization created by the French government to promote studying in France and to help foreign students with different administrative procedures. In addition, they are managing the scholarship programs launched by the French government, organizing events, and providing various services. Even though CF is mostly known as an organization to help international students, they are also in charge of managing the international mobility of French students.

There are 255 Campus France offices located in 124 countries, and you may contact the one in your country to learn more about higher education opportunities in France. That wasn’t exactly what I did, instead, I attended one of their webinars about studying in France. There I heard about a platform called ‘Études en France’ (EEF) which is also managed by CF. And if you’re from one of the countries affected by the EEF procedure, you will have a bit more things to do than others to study in France. In this case, you’ll be asked to create an account on the EEF platform to apply to universities (check your program of interest on the EEF website). If your program of interest isn’t on the EEF platform then you send your application via the platform that the university/program requires.

During my research on French universities, I came across a university called PSL (no surprise if I am writing this article now) and their program (and other things they offer) caught my attention. Long story short, in my case (for M1 Materials Science and Engineering) I had to apply via the PSL Application Portal. Then when I got my admission, I uploaded the admission letter and the details about my program to the EEF platform. To apply for a student visa, I exported a document from the EEF platform to submit along with my other documents to the embassy. In some cases you might have an interview with the people working at CF of your country after creating an account and writing a motivation letter on the EEF platform. And not to forget, there is a one-time application fee for the EEF platform. Each case can be unique, for this reason, it is essential to read the instructions matching your profile to avoid any possible inconvenience.

As I was a scholarship holder, CF also helped me to find a student dorm (however, if this is not the case for you PSL also has a housing service managed by the PSL Welcome Desk ). After arriving in Paris, I started receiving emails from CF about different events, and useful information about various topics. For example, I attended several webinars on ‘how to apply for the social security service’, ‘how to validate your visa’, and ‘how to renew a residence permit’, etc. organized by them.

I know, the application procedure sounded a bit long and confusing. To read more on the application procedure for the PSL program you want to apply check out the admissions page. If you want to learn more about Campus France you can visit their website too.