'Pact rollout to increase number of Indian students in France'

With the rollout of the agreement between France and India for the Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications from May 1, the number of Indian students in French universities will go up substantially, a senior French diplomat has said.

Talking to PTI here on Friday, Consul General of France in Mumbai, Sonia Barbry, said the number of Indian students in her country may go up to 15,000 by 2025 from the current figure of 9,000.

Four Indian academic qualifications -- Senior School Certificate (SSC), Bachelor's and Master's degrees and PhDs - from government-approved institutions have been recognised by the French government from May 1.

Barbry said inviting Indian students to study in the universities of France has been one of the priorities of the consulate.

"We want to have more Indian students. Now, we have 9,000 students studying in France. They are studying business management, engineering, social sciences and others. We have a number of courses in English and they need not learn French," she added.

"This has been made possible by an agreement between France and India for the Mutual Recognition of Academic Qualifications signed during President Macron's visit to India last year," she added.

The agreement was signed during the India-France Knowledge Summit, the first high-level summit for university, scientific and technological cooperation held by the two countries.

The diplomat said that five years ago, only 3,000 Indian students were studying in France.

"President Macron gave us an objective of 10,000 Indian students by 2020, now we are almost there. We want to have 15,000 in 2025 or 20,000 in 2030," she said.

According to Barbry, the course in France have better value for money.

"Basically, we have a very high quality higher education, which is recognized all over the world and it is very affordable for Indian students. If they study in France, they get two year visa to work," Barbry said.