The French government's announcement to increase registration fees for foreign students was posted in less than 48 hours across the Campus France network.
From the start of the 2019 school year, foreign students from outside the European Economic Area will have to pay 2,770 euros for a bachelor's degree and 3,770 euros for a master's or a doctorate degree, which means "one-third of the real cost" of a foreign student for public finance according to the government. "We will remain well below the 8,000 to 13,000 euros of our Dutch neighbors and tens of thousands of pounds in Great Britain, and most European countries, without mentioning, of course, the situation on the North American continent", Prime Minister Edouard Philippe pointed out when presenting the reform.
For Paris, these reorganizations called "Attractiveness Strategy for international students" should not only encourage French schools' appeal, but they will also improve reception conditions. To make the pill pass, the government promises to facilitate the process of obtaining visas and residence permits, while increasing the quotas of scholarships and number of open campuses abroad.
The promises are not enough to satisfy African students in France, who make up nearly half of foreign students with around 160,000 welcomed to the country. For them, this new French policy is just a way to close the doors. Most find this a "discriminatory" measure in perfect contradiction with the claimed objective of increasing the number of foreign students in France and the attractiveness of its universities.
العربية 
English