“I’ll start right away”

Foreign students with a college inscription that lasts longer than six months and their “carte de séjour” are already negotiated, have the right to work.

The legal working regime in France is about 35 hours per week. This legislation does not allow the students to work more than 884 hours per year. This means that in average, for example, if a student works 19, 5 hours per week, during his scholar vacation period he is going to work in a full time modality. In that way the student is enrolled in the part-time modality of work.

Everything is written about salaries

About the rent, the French government demands the Inter-professional Minimum Salary of Growth (SMIC), whose amount is 8, 27 Euro per hour of effective work (gross salary); an amount to which must be rested the social obligatory retentions that are about 20%.

If any student wants to have a full time job, he must obtain a provisional working authorization (APT); this possibility is contemplated because even knowing that it’s practically impossible to conciliate a full time job with study, the part time modality does not aloud the student to pay the totality of his studies (it is only a back up salary).

What to do?

The most frequently found jobs when we are foreign students are:

• Giving language classes (private lessons or at Language institutes)
• Looking after children (baby sitting)
• Working at “hot lines” or as beta testers in video games
• Doing translations
• As tele-actors, tele- marketers o tele-searchers
• And mostly as bar tenders, dish washers or cookers at fast food chains.

When studies are concluded…
… One can be chosen by a company. At that point we must realize an administrative procedure that changes our migratory class (from student to employee) in the prefecture where we reside. When our application to some job is accepted (this is not automatic) a temporal residence permission will be granted to us and its title is going to be “employee”.

A classic: student’s residence

First of all, we need to know what we will need to make sure in advance that we will have a room available at the residences –very well known and popular. And since we need to make a reservation, we have to know beforehand which will be the college we will attend-. During the summer holidays (from July to September) some residences may offer rooms for rent at a very reasonable price.

College campus

Many universities have their own accommodation (bedrooms and rooms for studying) at very good rates – in some occasions you only pay € 120 a month, if you don’t mind being on the outskirts of Paris. That doesn’t have to be a problem, since the city has a good development of public transport; and it is fundamental to consider that –as in most cities- the farther we are from the center, the cheaper rent we pay.

These places are called Cités-U and are under the administration of the CROUS –the regional offices of the CNOUS –national agency of student services-. The Cités-U are offered according to social criteria, or reserved for those with a scholarship or are part of a student exchange program, due to the high demand. For more information, you can visit the following web sites of various organizations that inform you about public residences:

A list of the CROUS agencies and all their contacts: www.cnous.fr.

More comfort

Private residences –which are, of course, more expensive than the accommodation the CNOUS provides- are also a good choice. There is also a network of organizations for that, detailed next:

ADELE (Association pour le Développement Économique du Logement Étudiant) : It is the Association for Economic Development and Accommodation of Students, which operates a website containing a list of student accommodation available in about 100 towns around France. To enter: www.adele.org.

CLEF (Centre de Logement pour Etudiants de France) : The Accommodation Centre for Students of France has its facilities in the towns of Grenoble (Montesquieu and Saint Exépury), Rouen (La varende) and Evreux (Charles Péguy). Rents are between €200 and 300. Access: www.logetudes.com.

Résidences Estudines: It has facilities in the 20 most important cities of France, with rates from €300 and €400. Find out more: www.estudines.fr.

Eurostudiomes: Last but not least there is this administration and development of student’s residences, known as Les lauréades. They offer studies and apartments to share. The facilities are normally located close to the universities and costs vary from €300-600.

The Bologna Plan was born from the Bologna Declaration, an agreement signed in 1999, in the Italian city, by the Ministers of Education of the members of the European Union. The main goal of this Plan is to form the Superior Education European Space, which should be effective by 2010.

Within the context of this established convergence, the objective is to adapt all the particularities of the different national education systems so as to allow a free exchange of academics and students throughout the whole European territory. At the same time, the idea is to renew the contents of the Universities Education programs, graduate and postgraduate, in accordance to the new social and economic demands.

A new system

In addition to this, a new system of university credits will be applied, in the form of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System). This will take into consideration the credits assigned to theory classes but also those in accordance to the student’s work, for example through seminars, assignments, work experience and even study time.

Recognition and comparisons between universities will be structured using these ECTS as basis. In this manner, the recognition of any academic title throughout the whole continent will be possible. Therefor, the objective is to favor the exchange of undergraduates and graduates between the different European countries.

Two learning cycles

This system will also implement university studies based on two learning cycles, resembling the Anglo-Saxon model. In this way, after 3 or 4 years of study, the student will achieve a Graduate Title (Bachelor level, in the English model). With 1 or 2 more years, the student will obtain a postgraduate specialization degree, on a Master’s level.

Problems of the Bologna Plan

Most of the complaints against this system focus on the less autonomy the Faculties of the Universities will have to grant intermediate or different titles than those proposed by the Bologna Plan. For example, the fate of bachelor and other degrees is still unknown, even if they will exist at all.

In addition to this, some people think specialization courses will cost around 3.000 Euros, which not everyone can afford. To aspire to that specific title and be able to compete in the working market with any chance to succeed, students will have to apply for University grants and loans. The critical sectors conclude that this system will lead to a reduction of the public budget for education and the substitution of graduate and postgraduate scholarships for loans.

In conclusion, to elevate the level of superior education in Europe and unite or combine the criteria between the different European Universities is something worth considering and even admirable. However, this must be done with caution. The necessary measures must be taken so as to avoid an excessive commercialization of this superior education, which can blow away any chance, for many European citizens, to acquire a professional formation and evolve in their specialty.

Find here a list of all the Universities in Germany. Some cities have several universities or you may find a university in a city close to your favorite place. Exempal: You want to go to Berlin? Than you may also choose the University of Potsdam. A nice place a close to Berlin (Last stop of the U-Bahn, Trains lasting 18 minutes to the center of Berlin etc).

Soon we add a link and a description to each university in order to facilitate your choice.

Fachhochschule Wiesbaden
Universität Ulm
Universität Trier
Universität Rostock
Universität Potsdam
Universität Osnabrück
Universität Oldenburg
Universität Münster
Fachhochschule München
Universität Magdeburg
Universität Lübeck
Fachhochschule Köln
Universität Kiel
Universität Karlsruhe
Universität Jena
Fachhochschule Hannover
Universität Hamburg
Universität Göttingen
Fachhochschule Fulda
Technische Universität Freiberg
Universität Düsseldorf
Technische Universität Dresden
Technische Universität Chemnitz
Ruhr Universität Bochum
Technische Universität Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin
Fachhochschule Augsburg
Fachhochschule Aachen
Universität Dresden