Campus France promotes French higher education throughout the Americas. 29,031 North and South American students were received in France in 2016-2017. They represent 8.96% of incoming international mobility.
A favourable context in the Americas for French higher education
The effort deployed to promote French higher education in the Americas is bearing fruit: between 2011 and 2016, there was an increase of 16.8% in the number of students coming to France from the Americas, which makes it the zone with the highest growth rate as a source for international students in France. By way of comparison, the overall number of international students in France increased by 8.7% in the same period.
France enjoys a good overall image and maintains favoured relations with this part of the world. Strong growth in movement to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, in particular, has made Campus France redouble its efforts with South American students. But since the end of 2016, the "Trump effect" has diverted some from the United States.
North America: a length ahead of South American students
Despite the results of the 2016 American election, American universities do not wish to break with a long tradition of welcoming international students, who represent a significant source of revenue. In 2014, the United States was still by far the leading destination for students from around the world: according to UNESCO, they received 842,384 foreign students in 2014, up 27.5% compared to 2009.
More recently, Canada has begun promoting its institutes of higher education. Today the country maintains a very active policy of attracting students from Francophone countries, as well as from throughout the Americas. In 2014, Canada welcomed approximately 165,000 international students, representing growth of 72.6% over 2009. It is now the seventh leading destination for international students.
At the same time as the United States and Canada are welcoming large numbers of international students, their own students are relatively reticent to study abroad, with few Francophones and therefore few in total coming to France for part of their education.
Actions in the four corners of the Americas
To reinforce the attractiveness of French institutes of higher education, the Campus France Americas team is organising a large number of promotional actions in the Americas. They meet several objectives:
- ensuring France maintains a presence in countries with a high growth rate and a favourable political agenda;
- pursuing the efforts deployed year after year in countries where there is a genuine "demand for France" and with which major mobility programmes have been established;
- making a mark in countries where our main competitors are deploying a strategy of ambitious, even aggressive, promotion.
To meet its objectives, in 2016 Campus France organised 229 events throughout the Americas:
- 219 promotional operations (open houses, conferences in local institutes, France Alumni actions, etc.) organised locally by the 24 Campus France offices in the Americas;
- 10 major events led from Paris which brought together 234 French institutes and received more than 30,000 visitors.
Promoting and advancing French institutes
Student recruitment fairs, recruitment campaigns, open houses, European fairs, a presence on the social networks, France Alumni events, etc. Campus France is deploying a full spectrum of promotional actions in the Americas to meet the expectations of French institutes of higher education.
The type of action essentially depends on the target audience. Some operations are very targeted and specific, such as the annual doctoral tour organised in Mexico and, more recently, Chile. Other events are aimed at as broad an audience as possible, such as the Europosgrados and Euro Pos European fairs.
Campus France is increasingly strengthening its presence in the Americas, offering new destinations and organising innovative promotional operations for French academic institutes.
To do this, in 2018 it is taking part in a large number of major institutional and academic events throughout the Americas:
- the Congreso Universidad in Havana, from February 12th to 16th;
- the FAUBAI conference in Rio de Janeiro, from April 14th to 18th;
- the Europos student recruitment fair in Rio de Janeiro on April 19th and in Sao Paulo on April 20th and 21st;
- NAFSA in Philadelphia, from May 27th to June 1st;
- the ExpoEstudiante recruitment fair in Ecuador and Peru, from September 18th to 23rd;
- the Grandes Ecoles recruitment tour in Mexico City and two other major Mexican cities from February 19th to 22nd;
- the future doctorate recruitment tour in Mexico City and two other major Mexican cities from March 26th to 30th.
Participation in major institutional events
The NAFSA fair in North America
The National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA) fair is the world's largest institutional fair devoted to international higher education. It is held each year in a North American city. For 16 years, Campus France has been in charge of France's official stand at the NAFSA fair.
The 2017 event, which took place in Los Angeles, welcomed 9,700 visitors from 100 countries. The French delegation brought together 39 French institutes of higher education, all represented at the Campus France pavilion.
In 2018, the NAFSA fair will be held from May 27th to June 1st in Philadelphia, in the United States. It will be an opportunity to highlight France's attractiveness, promote Campus France's new tools and resources and strengthen ties between France and American and international institutes.
The FAUBAI conference in Brazil
Each year the FAUBAI conference, organised by the Brazilian association for international education, brings together the heads of international relations from Brazilian universities. Since 2012, France has increasingly actively participated in the event to promote French institutes of higher education and to strengthen their attractiveness in the Americas.
In 2016, more than 560 delegates participated in this major event. Coordinated by the French Embassy in Brasilia, the French delegation included representatives of ten French institutes. In 2018, FAUBAI will be celebrating its 30th anniversary and France will be an honoured guest at the annual conference.
The Congreso Universidad in Cuba
The quality of Cuban higher education, in particular in healthcare, is widely recognised internationally. That's why the Congreso Universidad, a key event for major Latin American universities, is organised in Havana. Every two years it is the occasion to discuss problems related to higher education in this part of the world.
During the 2016 meeting, the conference brought together over 3,000 delegates from sixty countries. France had the largest European contingent with 26 representatives from 16 institutes of higher education. At the Campus France stand, they organised multiple meetings with representatives of Cuban and Latin American universities that were seeking to develop mobility programmes with France.
In 2018, the theme of the encounter will be "The university and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development". Cuban higher education has the aim of pursuing its process of opening up to the world through internationalisation.
Scholarship programmes managed by Campus France
The Mexfitec programme with Mexico
The Mexfitec programme provides all of the funding for Mexican engineering students and each year enables one hundred Mexican students to study in France in one of the partner engineering schools. The programme encourages the development of partnerships between Mexican and French institutes of higher education.
The Mexprotec programme with Mexico
Created in 2001, Mexprotec is a programme of bilateral cooperation between Mexico and France which is managed jointly by the authorities of the two countries. Its objective is to train Mexican students to the Bachelor's level. Each year it finances scholarships for 200 Mexican students who spend one year studying in France at an institute of technology; the programme is integrated in their Mexican university programme.
The Bec.Ar programme with Argentina
Managed by Campus France on behalf of the Argentinian Ministry of Education and Sport, the Bec.Ar programme is an increasingly successful scholarship programme. The number of recipients has increased from 100 in 2015 to 165 in 2016, representing growth of 65% in one year.
The Beca 18 and Beca del Présidente de la Republica programmes with Peru
The Beca 18 and Beca del Presidente de la Republica programmes are managed by Campus France on behalf of the Peruvian Ministry of Education. The number of students receiving scholarships from these programmes more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, increasing from 117 to 314.
New partnerships for the future
Campus France has concluded an agreement with the Colombian Ministry of Education to assist the students who have won the Ser Pilo en el Mundo programme, for Bachelor's students in the sciences, technology or engineering.
In Uruguay, Campus France has signed an agreement with the national agency for research and innovation (ANII) and the French embassy in October 2015. There have also been discussions with Paraguay concerning training senior civil servants in France.
Finally, Campus France has very recently been asked to manage a mobility programme in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
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