France, Pakistan cooperation in education top agenda of bilateral relations: Envoy
Zubair Qureshi Abdul Hadi Mayar
Delegates from well-recognized higher educational institutes of France on Friday held a press conference under the Choose France initiative at the Residence of the French Ambassador, Mr Nicolas Galey and highlighted the immense opportunities awaiting the Pakistani students in France.
Campus France, the official public French government agency under the umbrella of the Ministry of Higher Education & Research and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had hosted the event at the Residence of France.
A panel discussion was the highlight of the event as it discussed in details the Choose France initiative, various programmes offered to the Pakistani students by the French universities, support extended to them by the French government from the initial stage of settling down to completing their degrees successfully.
The panellists included International Development and Admission Manager of the Epitech (a network of higher education institutions specializing in information technology, campus located near Paris), Ms Nohayla El Haj, Campus France Project Manager, Iman Khan, NUST’s International Office representative, Dr Sahar Hamid, and students who have recently concluded their studies in France, Hanan and Rayan. Science & Higher Education Attaché at the Embassy of France, Sabine Vermillard moderated the panel discussion.
French Ambassador Nicolas Galey welcoming the delegates— Clemence Peccavet, Nohayla El Haj, Charles Amaury, Juliette Hautem, Amir Shehzad and Caroline Duva— held that the flagship initiative of the French embassy in Pakistan, Choose France, was doing a wonderful job i.e. enabling successfully the young talented Pakistani students to interact directly with the French delegates and explore their studies opportunities in the country. French universities he said were among the top universities of the world, in terms of ranking, quality of education. This year, two Nobel Prizes (Physics and Economics) went to France—a Physicist and an Economist—which is a sign of the quality of education and scholarship we are offering, he mentioned.
France is not only participating the most in Erasmus Mundus Degrees programme with 112 of total 206 existing Masters’ degree programmes, it is also the first country to welcome 32 of 114 Pakistani students under the Erasmus. Higher education cooperation between France and Pakistan has become stronger, more visible and more structured. Cooperation in this direction, he said, is one of the top priorities of our bilateral roadmap, he said. Five years ago, he said only 200 students had applied to study in France, while this year, nearly 7,000 applications have been registered on the ‘Etudes en France’ through Campus France.
The ambassador however, cautioned the applicants against applying for unregistered universities and institutes in France. Before applying, you must re-check at the Campus France website or [email protected] whether that university or institute is registered or not, he said because there are many unregistered private institutes that are no more than money making companies, he said.
Epitech’s Nohayla El Haj shed light on growing partnership with Pakistan in education sector. We offer a welcome desk service for the newly-arrived students and help them in accommodation, transportation, discounted rates at cafes and above all adapt themselves to the new conditions and culture of France.
Juliette Hautem said their visit to the Pakistani universities aimed at interacting with the students and faculty there and boost education cooperation with them. Iman explained that the Pakistani students could greatly benefit not only from the French language programmes but there were around 1600 such programmes that were available in English.
