Choose France - the pluses of living in France

With more than 298,000 international students making up 12% of total postsecondary enrollments, France remains the third-most-popular destination for internationally mobile students after the United States, the United Kingdom.
Advanced research
France benefits from a long, proud tradition of scientific and technological research and innovation that underpins the nation’s achievements in fields such as aeronautics and space, transportation, electronics, telecommunications, chemistry, biotechnologies, health, and mathematics. The results of international competitions attest to that performance:
• 13 winners of the Fields Medal (including Arthur Avila in 2014) have been French. By this measure, France is second only to the United States in mathematics.
• France is one of the most heavily represented countries with respect to Nobel prizes (56), on a level with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
• 4th in the world in number of Nobel prizes won; 6th in applications for international patents.
Diverse educational offerings of high quality
73 universities, more than 200 schools of engineering, 150 schools of business and management, 120 public postsecondary schools of art, 20 schools of architecture, and 3,000 other specialized institutes and schools in specific sectors such as social work, the allied health professions, tourism, sports, fashion, and design together represent an immense diversity of educational programs that respond to the full spectrum of students’ academic and professional objectives.
The range of subjects taught in English is widening. More than 1.000 programs in a variety of fields are now offered in English all over France. This network of programs is one of the strong points of French higher education, with high-quality educational offerings available in every region of the country.
Count on a quality education
France invests substantial public funds in higher education. Fully 5.6% of the nation’s GDP is devoted to education—higher than the OECD average of 5.3%—the Investissements d’Avenir €22 billion in funding for innovation and research under the Initiatives of Excellence (IDEX) program. The French government assumes a very large share of the actual cost of every student’s education (more than €11,000 per student per year). This national focus has several implications— among them that French tuition charges are among the lowest in the world; that degrees from anywhere in France are equivalent regardless of the institution that grants them; and that those degrees are recognized around the world.
France’s universities and other educational institutions do not distinguish between international students and French students. Both groups face identical admission and tuition requirements; both receive the same degrees. More...