French education overseas

The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs operates the Agency for French Education Abroad, which maintains and supports a network of approximately 540 schools in 138 countries. This network welcomes over 365,000 students, 60% of them are foreign students, and ensures access to educational quality throughout the world for them. The network of French senior high schools overseas is one of the important actors in France’s external activity, being unique in its scale and density, as well as in its unity, as assured by accreditation provided and certified by the Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sports.

The AEFE reconciles the provision of a public education service for French expatriate families with the promotion of our language, our culture and the values of French education by opening itself up to foreign pupils. The AEFE has therefore implemented an innovative educational policy in keeping with the curriculum of the French Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, while also being open to the language and culture of the host country.

By enrolling your children in a French educational institution that is accredited, you are choosing educational quality. This entails choosing a bilingual education and exposing them to a variety of cultures. This also entails immersing them in a culture of autonomy, reflection, and social responsibility, as well as teaching them how to live together and preparing them for citizenship. In conjunction with French diplomatic posts, this model can be adapted to the local people and context, in compliance with local regulations.

Significant reforms by the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Sports – particularly the senior high school reform with a view to the new baccalaureate in 2021 – have been fully implemented to ensure the provision of high-quality teaching to families and pupils in full compliance with French directives. Management staff, staff seconded from the French education system and staff recruited under local contracts are all involved in these projects. Excellent exam results (diplôme national du brevet (DNB) and baccalauréat) attest to the quality of our teaching. This is also reflected in the fact that many of our alumni go on to study at the best grandes écoles and universities in France and abroad.

The French education network abroad is supplemented by two programmes, LabelFrancÉducation and FLAM. These programmes respond to the wide diversity in demand for French education around the world. The development of excellent bilingual institutions within foreign education systems is therefore encouraged through the LabelFrancÉducation certification. French children who do not attend a French educational institution abroad are supported in their learning of the French language by the FLAM (French as a mother tongue) programme.