After the legislative elections, foreign students wonder about their future in France

Photo: Julien de Rosa Agence France-Presse Since the French legislative elections, foreign students have been wondering about their future in the country.

Maelle Lions-Geollot – Agence France-Presse in Paris

Posted yesterday at 7:43 a.m.

• Europe

“We have still avoided the worst of racism and frontal obscurantism, but I feel that it will continue to be hyper latent.” Kawder, a 26-year-old Moroccan student, is thinking of leaving France after her baccalaureate.

Following the French legislative elections marked by a surge from the far right, which campaigned on the themes of national preference and reduced immigration, foreign students are wondering about their future in the country.

“Even if the National Rally (far-right party, Editor's note) does not have a majority in the National Assembly, you really feel that there is a divide social that has been done”, notes the student from the School of Decorative Arts, who says she has noticed an increase in racist gestures and “more insistent stares” in public spaces in recent weeks.

In his Parisian student residence, the malaise remains despite the surprise defeat of this party, which came in third place behind the New Popular Front (left-wing coalition) and the presidential camp, and this, while the country is still looking for a new government.

Brahim (first name changed), 26, a student at Sciences Po and a Syrian political refugee, arrived in France almost seven years ago and intends to stay.

But the elections “hurt his heart”, explains the man who did some school refresher training upon arriving in France and learned French – perfectly – before joining the prestigious school with a view to a career in finance.

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Like Kawder, he heard racist and xenophobic remarks in the street during the legislative campaign. “My new home, my new country, doesn't want me, no matter what I do to assimilate and integrate,” he sighs.

He is one of more than 410,000 foreigners enrolled in French higher education according to the latest official figures, which date from 2022-2023, or 14% of students, according to Campus France, the public institution responsible for promoting French higher education abroad and welcoming these students and researchers.

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“Hit in the face”

The day after the first round of legislative elections, the universities and grandes écoles of France published a joint statement to say “no to the National Rally”, whose policy “endangers our higher education and the opportunity it offers to all young people », according to them.

The far-right party proposed in particular the establishment of a deposit or even quotas in certain establishments to limit the number of students foreigners. In 2022, the president of the RN group in the Assembly, three times presidential candidate for this party, Marine Le Pen demanded national preference for Crous housing, a public establishment managing university residences in particular.

According to a Campus France study in 2022, international students bring 5 billion euros to the French economy, for a net benefit of 1.35 billion euros.

“That foreigners come to study with us is something to be welcomed, it is part of our global influence,” recognized RN deputy Roger Chudeau at the end of June.

“Then, they could return home, ask to become French or apply for a residence permit,” added this specialist in education issues within the National Rally.

Not enough to reassure Ali Tchari, a 25-year-old Chadian student who arrived in France three years ago, who experienced the elections in “anxiety”. Leaving France after his studies, the professional certificate student at Sciences Po has also thought about it.

Now “reassured”, he hopes to have “an opportunity and a chance” by evoking the arrival of the left in the lead in number of seats in the National Assembly.

On the large lawn of the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris, an American-style campus which houses 12,000 students and researchers of 150 nationalities, Abraham Selano, a 26-year-old Mexican, is “not really” relieved. “The reality” of a strong extreme right “hit me in the face,” explains the student, who would however like to stay working in France.