Open_Science_CRI

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS STABILITY IN FRANCE

What is going on?

We’re 5 students of CRI - Université de Paris and we’re building an interdisciplinary research project about the foreigners' situation in France. We’re investigating the impact of learning on stability and well-being.

To that extent, we’re focusing on CRI alumni through a questionnaire and their LinkedIn account. The data gathered will be carefully anonymized as the main goal of our research project is to do Open Science.

We believe that our project will be useful to the whole CRI community and future students to know more about their experience. CRI could also then use the insights to self-improve its system if flows or weaknesses are detected in the support provided to foreign students.

Why?

France has been a country of emigrants since the mid-19th century (Barou, 2014). According to the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. In 2020, 6.8 million immigrants lived in France, i.e. 10.2% of the total population. 2.5 million immigrants, or 36% of them, have acquired French nationality. France is among the top four destinations for foreign students worldwide. According to data from the OECD (2006), in 2004, with 572,509 enrolled, the United States hosted nearly 22% of international students in the world, followed by England (11%), Germany ( 10%), and France (9%). For international students, getting into a French university is complicated. After arrival, they usually face challenges of assimilation in a new country, unfamiliar administrative complexities, and culture shock (Coulon. Paivandi, 2003). When talking about the difficulties of immigration, scholars most often mention the psychosocial challenges and problems of resettlement, including communications problems (Muecke, 1983), and cultural barriers to health care (D’Avanzo et al., 1994). Jocelyn Wright (Wright, 2014) in her analysis of the difficulties of foreign students in France singles out such difficulties as immigration and mobility policies, language policy and cultural context, complicated administrative procedures, freedom, and lack of support.

As international students, we are well aware of the difficulties described above, as we ourselves are in the process of experiencing and overcoming them psychologically. Despite this, we are all in solidarity with the fact that this kind of experience is useful for us and we want to get the most out of it. The experience of our colleagues who were able to reach a stable situation (both economic and emotional) in the country of emigration is very interesting to us. Therefore, our group of researchers asked themselves the question of identifying the determinants of stability and success for graduates of foreign universities.

Sergiu Bălţătescu (Bălţătescu, 2005) in his research defines three categories of factors that can define the subjective well-being of immigrant:

intrinsic factors (factors from immigrant's country of origin) acquired factors (immigrant experience in their actual country e.g. lower level of living, unemployment, bad housing/neighborhood, depression, communication difficulties, loneliness, social isolation) context variables (immigration policy, ethnic/immigrant attitudes of the receiving society). Kimberly A. Christopher used demographic and Migration Questionnaire, the Resilience Scale, the Migration Quality of Life Scale, and the General Well-Being Scale to identify that a fewer number of health care appointments, a resilient personality, and satisfaction with one’s life are associated with higher psychological well-being in specifically Irish immigrants (Christopher & Kulig, 2000).

There is still no research on the stability of emigrants in France, despite the fact that this country is difficult to assimilate. Therefore, our study is needed to increase understanding of personal and environmental conditions that determine immigrants’ successful adjustment and improve their positive emotional state in France.