The year looks like a crash test for the sixty or so American public and private higher education establishments operating in France, while a number of universities have suspended their “study abroad” programs (study stays at abroad). “The return to school was very difficult. A very small number of mobility programs have been able to accommodate American students. A large number of structures are holding up thanks to the economic support system set up by the French State ”, summarizes Carol Huber, secretary general of the Association of American University Programs in France.
According to figures from the Quai d’Orsay, the number of visas granted to Americans to study in France fell by 70% between 2019 and 2020, over the period from January to October. In normal times, according to data from the Institute of International Education, American universities send 17,000 university exchange students to France each year, whether in French establishments or in their offshore branches.
“Go local,” New York University (NYU) now proclaims on its website. Since the start of the year, its branch on Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris has been almost deserted. “This year we have ten times fewer students, and those who are there are mainly Europeans and bi-national Americans, or who were already present in Paris”, specifies Alfred Galichon, director of NYU Paris. The campus, which welcomes 350 students each year, applied until last week the strict instructions imposed by the New York parent company: 2 meters between each student, health questionnaire to be completed every day, temperature measurement at the entrance, no more than one person in the elevator … From now on, the courses have completely switched to distance.
Canceled programs
The Parisian branch of Columbia, a stone’s throw from Montparnasse, had already been providing online courses since the start of the school year. Before the second confinement, the site hosted students residing in Paris who wished “Have a workspace”, says Brunhilde Biebuyck, its director. Is, “For the moment, about fifty students” – against 600 per year at full speed. “All programs of “study abroad” have been canceled by American universities which normally send their students to us ”, notes the director, who thinks “That a large number of these programs” will also be canceled in the spring semester.
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