The number of foreign students enrolled in France is on the rise again after a year of stagnation in 2020-2021 due to Covid-19 : +8% for the 2021-2022 academic year (+21% over five years).
France has just crossed the bar of 400,000 students in international mobility, including apprentices, according to the latest figures from Campus France, which promotes French higher education abroad.
The Americas (15%) and Europe (13%) zones are those experiencing the strongest growth. As for the North Africa – Middle East zone, it is the first in terms of the number of students hosted, a figure that has increased by 10% over one year and 32% over five years.
Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a small increase of 5% in 2022 but experienced the strongest growth over five years, i.e. more than 40%. Students in this area represented “one in four foreign students in 2020”reports The world. Today they are “nearly a third to be enrolled in science courses” ; 25% in letters, languages and human and social sciences; 22% in economics and economic and social administration and 16% chose a course in law and political science.
The most significant increases recorded in 2022 are those of students from Lebanon, Spain, Italy, Germany and the United States. However, six African countries feature in the top 10 countries of origin: Morocco (46,371 students) and Algeria (31,032) being the top two on the list.
Next are Senegal (15,264), Tunisia (13,661), Côte d’Ivoire (10,725) and Cameroon (9,037). China is also present in this top 10. We find further in the ranking the rest of French-speaking Africa: Congo, Gabon, Benin or Madagascar.
The attractiveness of French higher education is confirmed, with a sharp rebound in applications for the year 2022-2023, up 18% compared to the period before the pandemic.