SciencesPo, a reputed institute in humanities, inked pacts for faculty and student exchanges with the University of Madras and St Stephen’s college respectively.

“We want to have more Indian students to study in France and French students to study in India,” Richard Descoings, Director of the Paris-based SciencesPo said.

Descoings is part of the delegation that accompanied French President Nicolas Sarkozy during which he expressed readiness to increase by three-fold the number of Indian students studying in France.
“The future elite will have to be a global elite which will have to deal with a diverse staff,” Descoings said, pointing out that Sarkozy studied economics, law, sociology and political science at the institute. Among the other alumni are Chirac and Mitterand.

SciencesPo has nearly 7,000 students, of which 40 per cent come from foreign countries and Indians constitute only 30, “a very small number”.

France is virtually rolling out a red carpet to attract more Indian students to its universities. Currently, approximately 1,700 Indian students are pursuing higher studies in France as against 17,000 Chinese students. “We have changed national rules to allow students to work part time while studying in France,” French Minister for Higher Education and Research Valerie Pecresse said.

It’s not only the government but also the private sector that is keen to tap the huge resource pool in India. French companies including Thales, Orange, ALTEN are among the many who have unveiled scholarships for Indian students.

French varsities inked 21 agreements with their Indian counterparts during the visit of Sarkozy, mostly involving student and faculty exchanges at the masters, doctoral and in some cases at the undergraduate level.