Four-city education tour featuring more than 50 French institutions will offer guidance on courses, scholarships, visas and student life
France is stepping up efforts to attract Indian students, with more than 50 French higher education institutions set to participate in a four-city education tour in India as Paris works towards its target of hosting 30,000 Indian students by 2030.
The Choose France Tour will be held in Mumbai on October 11, Pune on October 13, New Delhi on October 15 and Bengaluru on October 17. Campus France India will provide students and families with information on academic programmes, scholarships, visa procedures, accommodation and life in France.
The initiative comes as the number of Indian students in French higher education continues to rise. Campus France data show that Indian enrolment reached 9,100 in the 2024-25 academic year, making India the 11th-largest source of international students in France, up from 13th place a year earlier. Separate visa and residence-permit figures, which also include exchange students and those on shorter programmes, put the number of Indian students in France at about 12,000 in 2025.
-
The education push is part of a wider effort to strengthen India-France cooperation in higher education, innovation and artificial intelligence
-
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in June, the two countries signed 19 agreements linked to their innovation ecosystems, adopted the India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030 and established a joint working group on AI
Modi also invited French universities to establish campuses in India, while student mobility was identified as a priority area of bilateral cooperation. France has reiterated its goal of welcoming 30,000 Indian students by 2030.
Participating institutions include engineering and technology schools such as CentraleSupélec, Mines Paris-PSL and IMT Atlantique, business schools including ESSEC, ESCP and EDHEC, and public universities such as Université Paris-Saclay and Université Grenoble Alpes.
