On 2 November 2026, the French Ministry of the Interior released its annual figures on international mobility students in its report “Les étudiants étrangers en mobilité internationale dans l’enseignement supérieur français - 2025/2026”. At the start of the 2025 academic year, 352,790 of them were enrolled in French higher education, 7.2% more than a year earlier. The data come from the Ministry of National Education and the Ministry of Higher Education.
352,790 international students in autumn 2025
The total rose from 329,146 in autumn 2024 to 352,790 in autumn 2025. The 7.2% increase stands out against previous years, when growth hovered around 3% a year: 302,863 students in 2021, 310,759 in 2022 and 319,873 in 2023. Over five years, the Ministry of Higher Education reports growth of almost 27%.
These students make up 12.3% of everyone enrolled in higher education in France, up from 10.8% in 2021.
International mobilitythese statistics count foreign students who came to France to study after completing their schooling in their home country. A foreign national who finished secondary school in France is not included. “2025” refers to the 2025-2026 academic year.
University or school: where they study
221,354 international mobility students are enrolled at university, 63% of the total and up 5.1% year on year. This figure includes students working towards a university bachelor's degree in technology (BUT) and those on university engineering programmes.
The remaining 131,436 study outside universities, mainly at engineering schools and business schools. This is where growth is strongest: around +11% in one year, twice the university rate. The Ministry of Higher Education names business, management and sales schools as the fastest-growing fields. It's a trend we've noticed at Study in France too, with more and more students asking us about business and engineering schools.
And it shows in the numbers: international students make up 23% of business school enrolments, nearly one student in four. On university engineering programmes, they account for 18%.
Over one in three doctoral students comes from abroad
At university, international mobility students make up 13.2% of enrolments. Their share rises with the level of study: 10% at bachelor's level (99,940 students), 16.5% at master's level (102,546) and 35% at doctoral level (18,868). In absolute terms, master's students slightly outnumber bachelor's students.
By discipline, sciences come first (36.6%), ahead of humanities (26.7%), economics (16%), medicine (11.1%) and law (9.6%). Profiles vary by country: half of Moroccan and Algerian university students are in sciences, 42% of Chinese students are in humanities and a third of Tunisian students are in medicine.
Morocco, Algeria, China: where they come from
Morocco remains the top country of origin, ahead of Algeria and China, just like last year. The number of Moroccan students rose from 35,665 to 37,027 in a year, and Algerian students from 27,675 to 30,105.
Here are the top six countries of origin, across all types of institution:
| Country of origin | Students in autumn 2025 | Share enrolled at university |
|---|---|---|
| Morocco | 37,027 | 56% |
| Algeria | 30,105 | 86% |
| China | 22,803 | 47% |
| Senegal | 16,581 | 76% |
| Tunisia | 14,423 | 68% |
| Italy | 14,021 | 58% |
At university, 56% of international mobility students come from Africa (123,873 students), up from 54.3% a year earlier. Asia (19%) and Europe (18%) follow, and nearly eight in ten Europeans come from the European Union. The proportion of women also varies: 67% among Europeans, 58% among Asians and 50% among Africans.
What these figures don't capture yet
These data describe the September 2025 intake. They don't reflect the measures that came into force in 2026, which target students from outside the European Union.
Since 1 July 2026, students without a means-tested grant are no longer entitled to the APL, paid by the CAF (we talked about it here). Since 1 August 2026, the minimum resources you must prove for a student visa have risen from €615 to €877.50 a month. And from the 2026 academic year, each university can exempt no more than 30% of its foreign students from differentiated tuition fees: €2,902 a year for a bachelor's and €3,950 for a master's, compared with €178 and €255 for European students.
The effect of these changes on enrolments will only show up in the edition covering autumn 2026, but we expect the latest reforms to have a significant impact.
Sources
- French Ministry of the Interior (DGEF) - International mobility students in French higher education - 2025/2026
- French Ministry of Higher Education (SIES) - International mobility student numbers in 2025-2026
- French Ministry of the Interior (DGEF) - International mobility students in French higher education (2024/2025 data)
- Service-Public - End of the APL for non-EU students without a grant from 1 July 2026
- Service-Public - University: some non-EU foreign students will pay more from the 2026 academic year
- Campus France - Change in the amount of resources required for student visa applications from 1 August 2026
