France Stratégie, the French government think tank, has published recommendations on internationalisation of French higher education following a study which compared the French context with that of the UK, Germany and Australia. Whilst French students are amongst the most mobile in the world and France ranks third for the number of international students (271,000 in 2012, 6.8% of global international students) behind the US and the UK, its universities fare badly in international rankings. Public sector funding for the international agenda in French higher education has focussed on cooperation and public diplomacy rather than commercial gain.

The think tank, in a report entitled "Investing in the internationalisation of higher education" (http://www.strategie.gouv.fr/publications/investir-linternationalisatio…) sets out a series of recommendations which, if adopted, would result in substantial change to the French sector and the promise of some heated debate.

The key recommendations are as follows:
- Funding: Charge for the full cost of tuition for international students outside of the EU (currently they pay almost the same amount as French students). eg 6000€ for undergraduate; 12000€ for Masters and 500 to 15000€ for engineering schools. PhD students would be eligible to an exception in order to attract the most qualified students. This would be an extra source of funding to enable the HE sector to improve the quality of its universities rather than a decrease in public investment in HE. This is estimated to bring in a resource of around 850 million€ per year after a five year period.

- Evaluation. Conduct a census on French training abroad – looking at number, staff, level and how it has been implemented. Evaluate the quantitative and qualitative value of the presence of international students in France and its impact, so as to refine objectives on international education policy.

- Incentives for universities. Develop financial incentives (via strategic programmes) to encourage and support universities on international projects and to develop the digital offer, and encourage quality in these projects through evaluation.

- Expertise/support. Support from the state in the form of guidance, advice, training and research/horizon scanning for university establishments and (academic/administrative) staff.

- Student experience/recruitment. Improve student services in France so as to make France a more attractive study destination. This should be reinforced by an improved and active communication and marketing campaign, and through visible “branding”. 7.5 million € should be dedicated to this.

- Investment in exporting & digital. Increase investment in exporting French training overseas so as to make France the top non anglo-saxon study choice. Increase investment in the digital offer. This investment should be funded by ‘tenders’ financed by up to 70 million €

- Grants. Fund 30,000 additional grants per year from Francophone countries to make up for a reduction in numbers of international students which may follow as a consequence of increasing tuition fees. This will also enable universities to be more selective academically. The cost of reforming the grant policy would be around 440 million € per year.

The report is currently only available in French but an English language summary will be available soon.