To come to France after your secondary education studies:

There are different procedures depending on your country. Please check in the file to be uploaded (here below) if your secondary diploma is recognized to apply for french higher education.

Few steps :

1. Choosing a study program: more information in our website on the page « Higher education in France ».

2. Checking the admission requirements: it depends on the year of study you wish to apply, your nationality and your current residence. See below. 

3. Applying

4. If you are accepted, applying for a student visa: European candidates do not need visa. If you are already living in France neither.

5. Administrative enrolment: on your arrival. You will be after able to register with Social Security.

6. Educational enrolment

7. Applying for a student residence permit: European candidates do not need to hold a residence permit. Non-european will have to apply for a Student residence permit (VLS-TS) in the three months folowing the arrival in France.

Parcoursup

France has set up an online application system, the « www.parcoursup.fr » website (only in French). It is an online portal where final year high school students can apply to any french University, and many other higher education courses in France. This portal is open for the main procedure from  January to March.
You can download instructions for foreign students in french on the website.

You are concerned by this procedure if:

  • You are a European student who wishes to come and study in the 1st year of the bachelor’s degree

  • You are a non-European student who has obtained a French baccalaureate in a high school of the AEFE (Agence Française pour l’Enseignement Français à l’Etranger) and who wishes to enter French higher education in the first year of the bachelor’s degree

  • You are a non-European student who wishes to enrol in a 1st year at an institution not covered by the DAP procedure: IUT (Institut Universitaires Technologiques), STS (Sections de Technicien Supérieur) or CPGE (classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles).

Demande d’admission préalable (DAP)

If you have an High school diploma delivered by a country outside EU, EEA, Swiss confederation, in order to register in first year of an undergraduate program in french University, you have to make a « Demande d’admission préalable » which is a centralized application system.

If you already live in France you have to fulfill the green chart, if not, the white one.

Demande d’admission préalable (Procédure études en France)

A programme has been set up in France which « aims to provide support for international students in order to ensure that their course of study in France is successful ». This programme, established by Campus France (French National Agency for the Promotion of Higher Education, International Student Services and International Mobility), is called the Etudes en France procedure.  More information here.