Moroccan Students Lead Foreign Enrollment Surge in French Universities, Attract Employers

In France, there are 400,000 foreign students, an 8% increase in one year, the strongest growth in fifteen years, according to INSEE figures. Among them, 12,000 students and researchers from 150 nationalities, housed at the Cité internationale de Paris. "The number of applications has increased by nearly 20% this year," calculates Michel Kriebs, director of accommodation for Le Parisien. Moroccan and Algerian students constitute the first university community. They are followed by the Chinese, Italians and Senegalese.

According to a Kantar institute survey, the reception of foreign students in France brings in 5 billion euros per year. These students also constitute a "pool of talent" that SMEs and start-ups are turning to. "We are assisting more and more companies in their foreign student recruitment projects," says Géraldine Renaudière, manager at Fragomen, a law firm specializing in this field. Until now, it was mainly multinationals, but we are also supporting SMEs and start-ups." These companies come to draw from the universities and grandes écoles "a pool of talent," she adds.