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Preliminary registration
Unless you belong to one of the categories mentioned before in
the direct registration part, the procedure of preliminary admission
is compulsory for a first registration in 1st cycle in an university
(including for a first year of medicine, pharmacy or odontology,
or first year by basic legal qualification).
The stages of this procedure are described in the calendar that
follows. Please, check the dates with the embassy or the university
because a single day of delay in this long procedure could annihilate
all your projects.
Withdrawal of the file between November 15 and January 15 of the
year preceding the studies in France
With the qualified service of the French embassy in your country
(the requests by mail are written in French language) - white paper.
Directly with the university the closest to where you live, if you
already live in France (which means that you have obtained a resident
permit for a minimum of one year), or if one of your parents (father
or mother) or your spouse possesses one resident permit of at least
three years. In that case, you can also send your request by mail
but remember to join a copy of one of resident permits - white file.
Now the form can be also downloaded at the end of the year preceding
the studies in France on the site of theMinistry of Education, Higher
Education and Research) at the following address :
You can apply, in the file, for two universities, but one single
application is authorized for a university of the Paris region (academies
of Paris, Créteil, Versailles).
France is not just Paris
The geographic location is an important criterion
when choosing an school. The majority of the foreign students
opt systematically for an school in the Paris region. If Paris
can be very attractive for many reasons and concentrates, an
important part of schools and French universities, the provinces
can turn out to be a sensible choice because the conditions
of living, working and housing are much easier.
On the other hand, contrary to what is too often believed, trainings
programs are not systematically of better quality in Paris than
in the provinces. Let us remind that diplomas delivered by universities
are national diplomas, that is that they all have the same value.
Then, if you have the choice, do not hesitate to take up the
challenge of the provinces. You can always join Paris after
some years of studies. Several arguments are in favour of for
a choice :
the housing conditions are globally more favorable in the provinces
than in Paris (more spacious flats and lower rents) ;
the probability to get registred in Paris is weaker, due to
an excess of applications in the schools of the Paris region
(55 000 students foreign in Paris and in its region against
an average of 3 000 for the first ten university provincial
towns) ;
the administrative procedures, especially the request fora resident
permit, are easier, faster in the regions with weak concentration
of foreign people.
For further information about the possibilities of registration,
go to EduFrance's site :
or please, or write at
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After January 31st : Leave or
send your file carefully completed in the service which gave it
to you. You will receive in return a receipt which you will keep.
The file will contain the following details :
A birth certificate and its legalized translation in French ;
The photocopy of the diploma giving access to the higher education
in your country as well as for the subjects chosen in France and
the photocopy of its corresponding guaranteed translation by a French
official service. If you do not have this title at the time of the
request, you will have to provide a statement of the marks you obtained
during the past two school years. You will also produce the original
of the title for the definitive registration (administrative and
educational) in France.
In February : You will receive
a convocation to pass an evaluation of French language worked out
by the Ministery of Education, except if you belong to one category
exempted (see farther " Registration in the higher education
and the knowledge of the French language ").
Before mid-March : Your file
will be transmitted to the university of your first choice.
From mid-April : The university
of your first choice will transmit to you its decision and tell
you the mark you obtained in the test of French language. If the
answer is negative, it will automatically transmit your file to
the second university.
From mid-May : You should receive
the answer of the second university with the mark you obtained in
French language.
On June 1st : If you have not
received any answer by that time, write as soon as possible to the
two universities to ask them for explanations. Join an envelop stamped
for the answer if you live in France or a reply coupon if you live
abroad. Keep carefully the photocopies of your letters (always send
them recorded delivery with acknowledgement of receipt).
Before the end of July : In
case of positive answer from one of the universities, you will have
to send it by mail a confirmation letter for the administrative
registration. Keep a copy of this letter. Follow the recommendations
formulated by the university. The rules and time limits can vary
from an school to another.
Before July 10th (postmarked)
: If your application has been rejected twice, and provided you
obtained a mark which is superior to the average mark for the French
language test, you can ask the Ministry of Education (DRIC B1/DAIES,
61-65, rue Dutot, 75015 Paris) for a reorientation of your file
toward a third university. This request must scrupulously follow
the recommendations included in the application form, it must be
written in French with all the documents required included.
In the file, your are reminded that " given the fact that the
universities can only register a limited number of students, your
reorientation request will be accepted only if all the documents
required are included, if the training program you want to follow
corresponds to the previous programs you have followed and if your
school report is satisfying, especially in languages. "
But you should know that the intervention of the Ministry is just
indicative. The Ministry is not entitled to select files ; its intervention
aims at a proper distribution of the foreign students all over the
country. The services will orientate your file toward a university
likely to accept you. But they will not compel any university to
accept a file if it does not want to : the universities are free
to accept or refuse the registration they receive. The number of
candidates who can benefit for a third choice is so very limited.
But the Ministry may sometimes interfere insistently in favour of
students coming from a country undergoing serious political crises
(that was the case for instance with Chinese students after the
Spring 89 events).
Anyway, the Ministry will let you know
before September 15th :
If all the steps you have made have been unsuccessful, you can always
challenge the decision within two month.
If you were denied a preliminary registration, you will challenge
the decision in front of an administrative court (the Tribunal Administratif
of Paris if you were denied a registration directly by the Ministry).
To get assistance in your registration choice and in the procedure
:
Registration in French Higher Education and knowledge in
French langage
It is ill-advised to follow studies in France without speaking
good French. The demands of the different schools can vary
but you should prove a minimum level in French language equivalent
to a baccalauréat (A-level).
For the students who need a preliminary registration (first
application for the first year of the university first cycle),
a test in French language must be passed in February, under
the supervision of the Ministry of Education which works out
the contents of the test.
This national test aims at assessing your level of understanding
French language and your ability to follow the courses of
the program your have chosen (take notes, write essays…).
It is staged on the same day all over the country, either
at the French embassy of your country or in France for the
students who already live here (in the university of their
first choice). It lasts for three hours and is made up of
two parts. The first one is a part common to all the candidates
and based on the listening of a text on tape or read by an
examiner, and then comprehension questions and a short essay
on a subject. The second part is linked to the subject you
apply for (scientific studies, medical and pharmaceutical
studies, literature, arts or social sciences, politics, law,
economics or management). It is made up of questions and a
multiple choice question paper
Each university, according to the subjects and the level of
selectivity, works on its own selection criteria (that go
far beyond the French language level alone) and assess the
level of their candidates by giving them a mark. You must
pass the test if you are to join the university but it may
not be enough.
Some students can be exempted : if they come from a French-speaking
country or from a country where the high education exams are
mostly in French, the DALF holders (High Diploma of French
Language, delivered by the French Institutes and the Alliance
Française abroad), the pupils from French speaking
schools abroad (the list is drawn up by the Ministry of Education,
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Coopperation
and Development
Other students can benefit from a conventional exemption
: the German pupils from the allgemeine Hochschulreife if
they have followed a bilingual program or have obtained a
mark above the average in remedial French (Leistungkurs),
the French-German Baccalauréat holders, the pupils
from the bilingual section of the Lycée Santissima
Annunziata in Firenze, and of the lycée Galvani of
Bologna ; the students from French bilingual sections on a
list drawn up, each year, by the Ministries of Education,
Higher Education and Foreign Affairs.
Even if you have been legally exempted, some universities
can ask you to pass the test. You can also pass the test to
make your file more weighty.
For the students who can register directly, the university
that accepts them will take the assessment of the French level
in charge with its own criteria. You will not be allowed to
register in a preparatory class or a Grande Ecole if you cannot
show a perfect skill in French and general knowledge. The
students who want to register in an architecture school and
who do not belong to the list of exempted categories will
be subjected to the French test.
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The preliminary registration procedure is long and exhausting and
you may have to wait up to mid-September to have an answer (if appeal
to the Ministry). So we advise you to consider another solution
when you withdraw your file, in case you would find yourself with
nothing at the beginning of the academic school year...
Whether it is preliminary or direct, your registration will not
be complete before your administrative registration (and payment
of fees) to the registration's office of your university and, sometimes,
your educational registration to the pedagogic services and the
laboratories. This will be the subject of the third part of the
guide, as this step is to be made in France.
A particular case: Algerian students
For several years, a specific system by special
dispensation has been set up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
for the Algerian students willing to register in higher education
in France. For further information, get in touch with the Cooperation
and Cultural Action Service at the French Embassy in Alger (25,
chemin Abdelkader Gadouche, Hydra, Alger). The registration
procedure is explained on the Internet site of the Embassy :
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