Following six months of protests, the French government this week appeared ready to accept at least a partial climb-down over its contentious move to restrict the granting of work permits to foreign, non-EU students, many of whom are graduates who have been offered employment after their studies in the country.
In a circular sent in May to France's regional administrative authorities, the préfectures, the interior and employment ministers ordered a "rigorous" crackdown on the numbers of work permits delivered to foreign students from outside Europe and to limit the period foreign graduates can stay in the country to six months.
The May 31st missive also tightened restrictions on the delivery of work permits to non-EU foreign nationals in general. "The government has made its objective that of adapting legal immigration to the needs of French society, as also to its capacity of reception and integration," the circular began, referring to "one of the most severe economic crises in history".
Enlargement : Illustration 1
The circular's principle targets among students were Moroccan and Algerian nationals, who respectively account for the first- and third-largest groups of foreign students in France, who in all total just under 300,000. Internationally, France has the third largest number of foreign students studying in its higher education institutions, after the US and the UK.
Foreign students also had to justify higher financial resources. This included a ruling in September that student residency permits could only be issued to candidates who could prove a minimum of 615 euros or more in their bank account.
The circular has created particular difficulties for foreign graduates seeking to change their residency status from that of student to employee, and caused widespread outcry from academics, the business world and even among government ranks.
Higher education and research minister Laurent Wauquiez, after initially mounting a tepid defence of the new measures, earlier this month expressed his clear opposition to what he described as a "mistake". Speaking on French television channel France 2, he said: "I don't want French universities to close their doors to foreign students, I find that absurd [...] We got it wrong, and that must be said clearly, with a circular that gave that impression, which offered that image abroad [...] There are moments when one makes mistakes and the goal is to try and correct [the situation], because the French university system [is] the third-placed worldwide in welcoming foreign students and that must not change because it is an opportunity for everyone."
The government U-turn was announced this week by interior minister Claude Guéant, who initiated the circular. Speaking on Europe 1 radio station on Thursday, Guéant said he would soon be organizing "in-depth talks" with parties concerned and promised a new circular in 2012 that would specifically clarify the position concerning foreign students. "Clearly, I take heed that there are misunderstandings, [and] questions," he said.
Guéant has faced stern opposition from the association representing French university heads, the Conférence des Présidents d'Université, and that of heads of the top higher education schools, the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles, (CGE), as well as student unions.
CGE chairman, Pierre Tapie, who is also head of the Essec business school, told Le Monde that "the harm has already been done", noting that the circular had raised great concern in India, Brazil, China and Morocco. "These young folk do not take employment away from the French," he said, adding that by their talent and activities they "create employment in France."
A group of foreign students in France set up a ‘May 31 Collective', Collectif du 31 mai, in opposition to the circular and which offers advice and practical help to students applying for a permit. Its website argues that, via the circular, the French government is sending a "message" akin to the slogans of the far-right Front National party, citing "National preference" and "France for the French".
"The idea put about is as untruthful as it is dangerous," says the collective. "To say that the hiring of a foreigner takes away the employment of a French citizen is false. It is a shameless lie. A foreigner with diplomas who works in France is someone who pays their taxes in France, who is a consumer in France, who buys in France, who helps employment and consumption in France."
More than 14,000 people have signed up to an online petition organised against the circular by a group of leading French academics, writers, doctors and lawyers who denounce a "morally contemptuous, economically suicidal" text. Among those who drew up the petition are French Nobel prize for physics winner Albert Fert, the celebrated sociologist and thinker Edgar Morin, and former Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon.
John Quelch, dean of the China International Business School, commented in Le Monde: "In the international talent war, any country that complicates the obtaining of visas for students, the possibility of working during studies or to live out a first professional experience after their diploma, shoots themselves in the foot."
-------------------------
English version by Graham Tearse