France Exempts Foreign Doctoral Students from University Fee Hike

The announcement was made by the Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche following the publication of a report recommending freezing the increase in registration fees for foreign doctoral students, and consequently Moroccans.

One of the authors of the report, Christophe Strassel, had indeed estimated that France should not "move away from the other countries that are our partners but also our competitors for welcoming the best students". The minister also says she is working as part of the research programming law planned for 2020 to expand access to doctoral contracts.

"We will therefore take a decree at the end of March, in order to guarantee that in the future, for French and European students, registration fees will be stable and cannot increase more than inflation," the minister repeated to those who accuse her of wanting to raise registration fees for French students.

To recall, the plan announced by the French government provides that from 2019, the fees for enrolling in a bachelor’s degree will go from 170 euros to 2,770 euros, from a master’s degree from 243 euros to 3,770 euros and from a doctorate from 380 euros to 3,770 euros. These changes should affect a very large number of Moroccan students currently in France.