Start with what a free mover semester actually is if the term is new to you. France’s public university system is large, underfunded relative to its size, and oriented toward domestic students who enter through the competitive national selection system. The institutions that genuinely compete internationally in art and business education are almost exclusively private: the grandes écoles and the specialized private schools in design, fashion, management, and the fine arts that have built France’s reputation in those fields are the institutions that attract international faculty, international students, and the kind of English-medium programming that makes a free mover semester accessible without requiring C1 French.

wearefreemovers’ French partner schools are in this category. The offering spans the two disciplines where France is genuinely world-leading: business and management on one side, visual arts and design on the other. The programs are taught in English, the campuses are distributed across several of France’s most compelling cities, and the fees are set by each institution with no markup from wearefreemovers. Going through the platform means that fee plus cashback, Go-Together rewards if you travel with a friend, and student discounts on the services you will actually use. See exactly how that works. See the current French partner schools and apply.

French higher education runs on two mostly separate tracks, and understanding which one you are entering matters. The public university system (universités) is theoretically open to all, large in enrollment, and strong in research disciplines including law, social sciences, and the hard sciences. It is considerably less internationally oriented and the French-medium instruction assumption is pervasive. Admission for free movers into French public university programs typically requires high French language proficiency and involves a bureaucratic process managed through Campus France, the national agency responsible for international student applications to French higher education.

The grandes écoles and private schools are the second track, selective and specialized, with strong industry connections, smaller cohorts, and a significantly higher proportion of English-medium programs. These include the recognized business schools (écoles de commerce) and the design and arts schools (écoles d’art et de design) that wearefreemovers works with. Admission processes are managed by the institutions directly; they are competitive without being inaccessible, and the acceptance rates at current French partners range from 60 to 70 percent.

French higher education uses the ECTS credit system and participates fully in the Bologna Process. A standard semester carries 30 ECTS credits, and the academic year divides into a fall semester (roughly September to January) and a spring semester (February to June), with examination periods at the end of each. Several French partner schools also offer summer programs, typically running June through August, for students whose home institution’s academic calendar makes a full semester impractical.

France uses a 0 to 20 grading scale, and it is the grading system in this series that most consistently surprises European students who encounter it for the first time. The minimum passing grade is 10 out of 20. Grades of 16 and above are considered outstanding; a grade of 18 or 19 is the reserve of truly exceptional work and is rarely awarded. A 12 is a solid, genuine pass. A 14 is a good result. The grade of 20 is essentially theoretical: French academic culture does not award 20s, since the philosophical position of many French educators is that perfection does not exist and nothing should be graded as if it does.

The practical implication: French transcripts look dramatically different from what home institutions in Germany (1-5), Croatia (1-5), Italy (18-30), or the UK (percentage) use, and a grade of 13 out of 20 that is a strong result in French academic culture may be misread as a 65 percent failure-adjacent result by a home coordinator who does not know the context. Communicate the French scale to your home institution explicitly, in advance, and include the ECTS comparison on any documentation you send.

Belgium uses the same 0-20 scale for the same historical reasons, so the conversion documentation from Belgian universities is a useful reference for home institutions that have processed Belgian transcripts before.

ECTS-native, Bologna-aligned. Our credit recognition guide covers the full transfer process, and the grade and credit converters are available for modeling. The learning agreement before departure and transcript of records after the semester remain the two practical documents that make the transfer work.

France is a Schengen and EU member state, which makes entry for EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens the simplest possible situation: no visa, no advance documentation, free movement, and registration with local authorities for stays over three months. The euro is the currency, which eliminates any conversion step.

For non-EU students, France requires a student visa (visa étudiant) for any program longer than three months, and the application process runs through the Campus France system in the student’s country of residence. The process: Campus France handles an initial eligibility assessment and interview before the student can apply to the French consulate for the actual visa. This two-step process takes longer than most European student visa applications, and non-EU students should begin the Campus France procedure as early as possible, ideally four to six months before the intended start date. The specific requirements vary by nationality and by country of residence.

One point confirmed by the French partner schools’ own visa documentation: it is not permitted to enter France on a tourist visa with the intention of studying. Non-EU students who plan to study for even a single semester must apply for the proper student visa before traveling, not attempt to convert tourist status after arrival.

Embassy Worldwide is the starting point for locating the nearest French consulate.

France’s cost of living is one of the most city-dependent in Europe. The gap between Paris and most other French cities is not a marginal difference; it is a significant shift in what the same budget actually buys.

Paris is expensive by any European benchmark. Accommodation in a shared apartment near a central campus runs EUR 700 to 1,200 per room per month, with studio apartments in the inner arrondissements starting well above that. Food outside the university canteen system is expensive; a simple restaurant lunch in a non-tourist area runs EUR 12 to 18. The experience is extraordinary and the density of what is available is unmatched, but the cost requires accurate budgeting rather than optimistic estimation. Total monthly Paris student budget: EUR 1,100 to 1,700, with accommodation as the primary driver.

Nice and the French Riviera are expensive in the absolute sense, comparable to Paris in some accommodation categories, but the quality of life, the climate (around 300 sunny days per year, Mediterranean coast, walkable old town), and the specific character of a mid-sized French city with a strong international community make the price easier to justify. Students at partner schools with Nice campuses consistently describe it as one of the more livable environments of any city at this latitude in Europe. Total monthly Nice student budget: EUR 900 to 1,400.

Lyon sits at a different price point: France’s second city by most measures of cultural and economic weight, the uncontested capital of French gastronomy, two hours by TGV from Paris and one hour from Geneva, and meaningfully more affordable than both. Accommodation in Lyon’s student districts (Guillotière, Croix-Rousse) runs EUR 500 to 800 per room in shared apartments. Total monthly: EUR 800 to 1,200, making it the most practical of the three main campus cities for students managing a realistic budget.

Normandy (where EM-affiliated campuses operate) gives you a northern French city experience at prices closer to provincial French averages: accommodation EUR 400 to 650, total monthly EUR 700 to 1,000, though the climate is noticeably wetter and cooler than the south.

One genuinely useful financial point specific to France: international students are eligible to apply for the CAF (Caisse d’Allocations Familiales), France’s national housing benefit. Depending on rent and city, this can return EUR 80 to 200 per month directly to the student. The application is done online after arriving and signing a rental contract. Check your eligibility at caf.fr once you have your accommodation confirmed; the process takes a few weeks but the benefit accrues from the application date.

France’s safety profile is something to be treated with care. The realistic risks for a student in Paris, Lyon, or Nice are theft and pickpocketing, which are consistently among the highest in Europe in the areas surrounding major tourist sites, train stations, and crowded transport. Paris’s Métro, particularly on the tourist-heavy lines (lines 1 and 4, the RER B to Charles de Gaulle), requires the same active awareness as any high-density transit environment: phone kept out of sight, bag in front and zipped, wallet not in a back pocket. This is habit-forming within a week and does not substantially affect daily life once it becomes automatic.

Beyond petty theft: France has experienced a pattern of urban social unrest over the past several years, including protest movements and periodic episodes of significant civil disorder in major cities. These events are generally concentrated in specific areas and specific circumstances, and the overwhelming majority of student semesters pass without meaningful exposure to them. However, it is accurate to say that the social tension in French cities is definitely at a higher level than it was a decade ago. Staying informed about local developments and avoiding areas of active protest or disorder is straightforward common sense rather than unusual caution.

France’s relationship with the English language is the one thing most international students underestimate before arriving. French language is rooted in the Académie Française, a three-century-old institution whose mandate includes protecting the French language from foreign influence, and in a genuine national pride in French as one of the great languages of diplomacy, literature, and civilization. This plays out differently in different settings.

On the street, in shops, in restaurants, and in general public life, English is present but unreliable. In Paris, the tourist economy has produced functional English in most visitor-facing situations, but a student trying to navigate a conversation with a landlord, a pharmacist, a bureaucrat, or a neighbor will find French expected rather than optional. Outside Paris, English fluency among the general population is lower and the French-first expectation is stronger.

At the partner schools wearefreemovers works with, the situation is deliberately constructed for the opposite experience. These are international institutions that market themselves globally and have built English-taught programs specifically to attract non-Francophone students. The classroom, the student services, and the administrative processes all operate in English. Students who leave campus and engage with the city will use French (or attempt to); students who stay within the campus environment will find English entirely sufficient.

The practical recommendation: arrive with basic French conversational skills if you have them, acquire the essentials if you do not (ordering, navigating transport, asking for directions, handling basic transactions), and expect the country to meet you at least partway in tourist-facing contexts and not very far at all in everyday ones. Learning a minimal amount of French before departure transforms the daily experience and tends to be reciprocated with more warmth than attempting the same conversation in English only.

EU and EEA citizens studying in France are entitled to access the French national health system (Sécurité Sociale) by registering with CPAM (Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie) after arrival. This provides coverage for medical consultations, hospital treatment, and prescription drugs at standard French reimbursement rates (typically 70 percent of the regulated fee, with the remainder covered by a complementary insurer or paid by the patient). Full public healthcare access is one of the better healthcare arrangements for EU students in European destinations.

A complementary private policy (mutuelle) covers the portion not reimbursed by the state and is strongly recommended for a full semester. Most French partner schools offer students access to a group complementary plan; ask the institution’s international office for the current option.

Non-EU students need to register for the student social security scheme through the Sécurité Sociale Étudiante once enrolled at a French institution. A private complementary policy applies to non-EU students in the same way.

Our article Please overspend on health insurance makes the full case for coverage over price. Our partner Mondassur is a visa-compliant starting point for students who need a private plan, or compare every provider through our Insurance Finder filtered to France.

France is among European study destinations with the widest internal range: Paris versus Riviera versus Lyon versus Sud-Ouest are not merely different cities but different lifestyles, budgets, and versions of what a semester in France actually feels like. The private schools that wearefreemovers works with span most of that range, and the combination of business and art programming means the French partner offering covers two of the disciplines where a French education carries the most specific and widely recognized weight.

Browse the current French partner schools and apply directly. The fee shown on each page is what the institution charges: nothing added, no markup, no agency fee, and up to 150€ in rewards back through the platform. If France is where you want to spend a semester, the finder is where to start.