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Ludovic Pouille, Ambassador of France to the UAE, brought together graduates from French universities living in the United Arab Emirates, as part of 'France Alumni UAE' on 25th November, 2018 in Dubai.
The meeting gathered about 150 participants, including Alumni from French 'Grandes Ecoles', representatives of French companies and of Emirati universities’ networks with some invited to make a keynote speech to share their experience and career.
The event follows the launch of the 'France Alumni UAE' platform in May 2018, which is the result of a partnership between Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, Total E&P and the Embassy of France in the UAE, to respond to a request from French university graduates living in the country, whose number is constantly increasing, to extend their French experience in their professional careers.
For this year's French-Emirati Cultural Dialogue, the gathering also demonstrates the importance both countries give to education and the growing role of Francophonie in the UAE, while the country has just been appointed associate member of the International Organisation of la Francophonie, during its summit in Yerevan on 11th and 12th October, 2018.
Beyond the opening of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi - a major academic cooperation project for France in the world - France and the UAE have developed high level partnerships allowing Emirati students to pursue their studies in France. They include a cooperation programme allowing Emirati doctors to enter the French medical internship without passing any exams, and an agreement signed in 2017 between Total and the Embassy of France offering the opportunity to young Emirati talents to pursue their studies in France.
The event echoes the wish of the UAE to strengthen the role of the French language in schools, which has been implemented with the signature, in July 2018, of a convention on reintroducing French language in Emirati public schools and by the designation, in September 2018, of ten pilot schools.
During the gathering, the Ambassador of France said, "I am thrilled to attend this networking evening which aims to gather the foreign French universities graduates living in the UAE and to enhance the interactions between French companies and the universities. This event, in line with the official launch of France Alumni in the UAE platform in May, underlines the cooperation of excellence between France and the United Arab Emirates within the framework of the French-Emirati Cultural Dialogue."
On the occasion of 'Campus France Academic Meetings 2018' held on 19th November 2018 in Paris, Campus France, the French agency in charge of the promotion of higher education, incoming and outgoing mobility, announced a new national strategy of attractiveness of the international students with the aim of welcoming 500,000 foreign students by 2027.
Using the hashtags 'ChooseFrance' and '#BienvenueEnFrance', the French Prime Minister Edouard Phillipe announced the main measures of this strategy, among those are the simplification of the student visa process, the trebling of scholarships, the increase of English programmes, the creation of a quality label for incoming students and the multiplication of training capacities abroad.
France Almuni, a network of French higher education graduates, is a platform launched by Campus France, an initiative of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to unify the 100,000 international students who graduate each year from French higher education.
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