Where do all the foreign students in France come from?
France has long been a popular destination for foreign students, a reputation the government wants to encourage with an ambitious target of 500,000 overseas students by 2027 - but where are they all coming from?
New data has been released from Campus France that gives a breakdown of the most popular countries of origin for students in France.
And it shows some interesting trends as France become less popular with students on the European Erasmus programme, but better at attracting people from Africa and Asia - giving the country's universities a truly international feel.
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France is the fourth most popular country for foreign students - and the top non-English speaking country- with 340,000 coming in the academic year 2017/18 - more than double the number that studied in France 15 years ago.
Unsurprisingly, countries that have French as one of their official languages score highly, with the two biggest groups of foreign students - by quite some margin - Morocco and Algeria, which in the 2017/18 academic year sent 39,855 and 30,521 students respectively.
Also in the top 10 are Tunisia (12,842), Senegel (10,974), Côte d'Ivoire (8,085) and Cameroon (6,872) all of which, having been colonised by France at some point in their history, have French as one the the country's official languages.
The third biggest group of foreign students are Chinese - 30,072 students came to France from China in the academic year 2017/18.
Of the European nations Italy sent the most students with 13,341 followed by Germany (8,459), Spain (7,826) Portugal (5,091) and Belgium (4,798).
France, or more specifically Paris, has long been seen as an attractive destination for American students, particularly with the American University of Paris which teaches in English, but in fact American students are only the 11th most common in France, with 6,264 making the trip last year.
The highly popular Erasmus programme for European students continues to attract big numbers, but France has been steadily slipping in the rankings of places that Erasmus students want to come to. The lack of classes taught in English and a shortage of student accommodation have been blamed for putting off international students.
As to what people come to France to study, science is the most popular topic among most of the foreign students. French universities are regarded as world leaders in several areas including astrophysics, which attracts many people for further and post-graduate study.
The full top 20 countries are:
1. Morocco - 39,855
2. Algeria - 30,521
3. China - 30,072
4. Italy - 13,341
5. Tunisia - 12,842
6. Senegal - 10,974
7. Germany - 8,459
8. Côte d'Ivoire - 8085
9. Spain - 7,826
10. Cameroon - 6,878
11. USA - 6,264
12. Portugal - ,5901
13. Libya - 5,665
14. Vietnam - 5,589
15. Brasil - 5,423
16. Russia - 5,337
17. Congo - 4,875
18. Belgium - 4,798
19. Gabon - 4,549
20. Madagascar - 4,282
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New data has been released from Campus France that gives a breakdown of the most popular countries of origin for students in France.
And it shows some interesting trends as France become less popular with students on the European Erasmus programme, but better at attracting people from Africa and Asia - giving the country's universities a truly international feel.
READ ALSO
- These are the culture shocks you will experience as a foreign student in Paris
- 'Thorough but not as tough as I had feared' - how to get a French student visa
France is the fourth most popular country for foreign students - and the top non-English speaking country- with 340,000 coming in the academic year 2017/18 - more than double the number that studied in France 15 years ago.
Unsurprisingly, countries that have French as one of their official languages score highly, with the two biggest groups of foreign students - by quite some margin - Morocco and Algeria, which in the 2017/18 academic year sent 39,855 and 30,521 students respectively.
Also in the top 10 are Tunisia (12,842), Senegel (10,974), Côte d'Ivoire (8,085) and Cameroon (6,872) all of which, having been colonised by France at some point in their history, have French as one the the country's official languages.
The third biggest group of foreign students are Chinese - 30,072 students came to France from China in the academic year 2017/18.
Of the European nations Italy sent the most students with 13,341 followed by Germany (8,459), Spain (7,826) Portugal (5,091) and Belgium (4,798).
France, or more specifically Paris, has long been seen as an attractive destination for American students, particularly with the American University of Paris which teaches in English, but in fact American students are only the 11th most common in France, with 6,264 making the trip last year.
The highly popular Erasmus programme for European students continues to attract big numbers, but France has been steadily slipping in the rankings of places that Erasmus students want to come to. The lack of classes taught in English and a shortage of student accommodation have been blamed for putting off international students.
As to what people come to France to study, science is the most popular topic among most of the foreign students. French universities are regarded as world leaders in several areas including astrophysics, which attracts many people for further and post-graduate study.
The full top 20 countries are:
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