Campus France welcomes 400 participants to the seminar on reception in La Rochelle

Each year, Campus France organises the “Colloque de l’accueil” (Seminar on Reception), a key event for all stakeholders who participate in the reception of international students in France. The ninth edition is for the first time organised in La Rochelle Université, an institution committed in the reception of international students and currently registering 12.7% international students.

Gathering all stakeholders of reception to discuss current challenges

The “Colloque de l’accueil” is directed towards all representatives of higher education institutions, but specifically the services of international relations, education services, and reception and student life services.

As every year, the event is an opportunity to shed the light on the best practices and assess the legal and regulation changes regarding the reception of international students: residence permits, social security, etc. The seminar also sheds the light on the role of territorial coordination in the reception policies.

The plenary sessions and workshops organised this year will also provide an opportunity to talk about the subject of students’ precariousness, but also to present schemes of in-person reception systems and to share initiatives and good practices, including in relation with the fight against sexual and sexist violence or the respect of religious neutrality.

Each year, the “Colloque de l’accueil” aims at responding to the different issues faced by the reception services of institutions by gathering all stakeholders of the “chain of reception”: institutions, ministries and public operators, diplomatic posts in foreign countries, institutional partners, but also cities, regions and associations which are on a daily basis in contact with international students.

With more than 400,000 international students, France is the 6th destination worldwide in terms of student mobility. 

Focus region: Nouvelle-Aquitaine, over 25,000 international students

With 25,456 international students in 2021-2022, i.e. 6% of the total number of international students in France, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region is the 6th region welcoming the most students among the 18 French regions. Over the last five years, their number increased by 22%.

At regional level, the Academy of Bordeaux is the academy grouping most foreign students (15,801 students), ahead of Poitiers (6,619) and Limoges (3,036).

This event also reminds the importance of the reception of integration of international students in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and all over France, and the stakes of synergy between higher education institutions and the different administrations to streamline processes seeking to develop the attractiveness of France as destination for studies.