France wants to double the number of foreign students in France by 2020
Discours de Jean-Marc Ayrault à la  Journée du Réseau le 18/7/2016

Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, gave a speech for representatives of the network of cultural action and cooperation on the end day of the Journée du Réseau (Network Days) of the 18th of July 2016. In the speech, he stressed the importance to keep France as "a land of welcome for the young in mobility" in order to "build a better world".

Extract of the speech:

"The development of French offer in higher education and research and the reception of foreign students and researchers in France must also continue.

Our country is a land of welcome for the young in mobility. Our goal, with Campus France, is to double the number of young students in France by 2020. I am deeply committed in this action, because the young in our partner countries are the people we want to talk to in priority, and with whom we want to built a better world.

Changes are happening in France in this sector, and the new forms of presence of our universities abroad must allow a better identification of partnership opportunities and attract students and researchers of your country of residence on our campuses.

It is also necessary to maintain a bond with alumni once they have completed their course in France. This is an important vector of influence. The France Alumni platform was implemented to this end. It is your role to develop and improve it with contents and services. I am delighted to launch France Alumni United States in September in New York.

The action in favour of attractiveness of France in the higher education and culture sectors, but also in the tourism sector, can't be severed from economic diplomacy.

In the health sector, for example, a sector that benefited from your workshops today, our objectives must both put in the foreground the French academic and clinical expertise and entice the creation of modern and well-equipped hospital structures in developing countries. "