Now-abandoned measures that would have placed harsh restrictions on international students were ¡°an episode, but not the reality of France¡±, higher education minister Sylvie Retailleau has said.

Approved by the French parliament in December,?the hard-line, widely criticised immigration law?initially included a requirement for international students to pay ¡°return deposits¡± to cover potential ¡°removal costs¡± should they outstay their visas.

International students would also have been required to prove the ¡°real and serious nature of their studies¡± every year, while universities would have been obliged to charge higher registration fees for students from outside the European Union.

The measures were rejected by France¡¯s Constitutional Council in January, alongside other contested aspects including limits on family reunification and the criminalisation of residing in France without a visa.

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Professor Retailleau submitted her resignation over the immigration bill,?but President Emmanual Macron?rejected her request. Speaking to?Times Higher Education, she said it was ¡°very important to keep open access and attractivity for international students, for the French government and for all the universities¡±.

The modified law, she said, ¡°is consistent with the French government positions on higher education and research. It¡¯s a good thing to keep this image of a very open science, for students and for researchers.¡±

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In January, the umbrella body France Universit¨¦s??that the ¡°discriminatory¡± scrapped measures had ¡°already weakened the image of France and its influence¡±, calling for trust to be ¡°rebuilt¡±.

But Professor Retailleau dismissed suggestions that France¡¯s reputation as a destination for international students had been damaged. ¡°I¡¯m sure our partners know we want to welcome their students,¡± she said.

¡°The government still has?the?objective of welcoming 500,000 international students [by] the end of 2027, and we are currently at 400,000,¡± she said. ¡°We want to be a country where we can share knowledge and talents in order to have a lot of partnership between countries.¡±

Professor Retailleau visited London in order to endorse, alongside UK science secretary Michelle Donelan, ¡°a joint declaration to strengthen UK-French research ties even further¡±, according to a UK?.

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The ministers¡¯ meeting, the first since the UK¡¯s return to the European Union¡¯s Horizon programme, saw them commit ?800,000 to existing joint research programmes, while announcing a new partnership between the UK¡¯s AI Safety Institute and Inria, France¡¯s National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com