With borders reopening, Chinese students rush to study in France

First modification: 04/03/2023 – 11:38

From the RFI correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

Blue, white and red berets next to an Eiffel Tower, croissants and baguettes from the sponsors and the stands of 38 French universities and schools in front of which the students who attended the Campus France fair organized at the Institute on Sunday 2 April Peking French, sometimes accompanied by their parents.

This year there are schools of commerce, engineering, French as a foreign language, specialized, whether in art, hospitality or psychomotricity”, explains Valentine Eurin, national coordinator of Campus France China. It has fully recovered (since the lifting of the Covid measures zero) and we even have more people than before the health crisis. Before 2020, we had 300 or 400 registered at our fairs, today there are more than 1,000.

It is an influx that has not been seen for a long time. According to Campus France data, France hosted more than 30,000 Chinese students before the Covid pandemic.

On the posters, the motto Fàguó jiàn (“See you in France”) and, to wait among the stands, a contest with sweets. On the ground, six squares in the hopscotch before going to heaven. Roland Dolais is one of the organizers of this 2023 student fair: “You have two minutes to answer six questions in different fields related to sport, culture and French geography,” he explains. And the questions keep coming: what is the currency in France, the franc or the euro? What is the nickname of Edith Piaf: the blonde, la mome either the rose? We launched the registrations a month ago and we have seen the numbers increase, which are higher than before Covid “, she continues.

There is real enthusiasm among these students who did not hesitate to leave their campus on a Sunday to come and find out about the different courses possible in higher education in France. And also some trick questions… “With which country does France share its longest border? Answer: Brazil!

Tensions between China and the United States have changed the rules of the game

A little further on there is a photo booth session with French objects and French phrases. “I love France”, “love”, “study in France”. Regarding tourism in China, the geopolitical situation (the trade war with the United States and the Anglo-Saxon world) is changing the orientation options of Chinese students.

“The tensions between China and the United States have changed the situation,” stresses Liu Huayin, a salesperson at the Sciences Po stand. Before, high school students put the United Kingdom as their first destination, but now they pay more attention to European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands in particular.

“There is often talk of romanticism, but France also has a good reputation in science,” adds a representative of the École Polytechnique. “We visited Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chendgu (capital of Sichuan province in western China) and were amazed because we saw a lot of people in Chengdu who wanted to continue their studies in France,” says Anyuli happily at the Sorbonne stand in Paris.

“I doubt between the object of the crescent or the sign of “together”, because France is harmony”, reacts a student in front of the selfie box. “Although at the moment I have heard that there are strikes and demonstrations,” she adds. Next door, the contest continues: “Who is currently the president in France: Jacques Chirac, François Hollande or Emmanuel Macron?”

After Shanghai, Chengdu, Beijing and Guangzhou, where the French president is scheduled to visit this week, the 51 schools participating in this spring tour of the Campus France student fair in China will go to Dalian, in the north, and Wuhan, downtown, next weekend.