**This year 3,400 French students started the new academic year at the University of Montréal, Canada’s largest French-language university.**
As Stromae’s Alors On Danse rang out in the stadium at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), at the foot of Mont Royal, the city’s green lung, students in the stands launched blue and white paper airplanes, the faculty’s colors, and took selfies to send to their parents. To welcome its 12,000 new students enrolled this fall, Canada’s largest French-language university put on a real show on August 29. There was a performance by the cheerleading team, all-you-can-eat popcorn and a parade of second and third-year students called “ambassadors”. They came on stage to tell the newly arrived freshmen that UdeM had “become [their] new home,” stress the need to “relax and enjoy your best years,” and pledged “to always be there” for the newcomers, “to help them integrate”.
This promise was primarily aimed at the new international students. Out of UdeM’s 40,000 students, one in four comes from abroad and French students make up the largest contingent. This academic year saw 3,400 enroll in one of the 600 or so study programs available.
Rayan Hermassi, 18, arrived in Québec on August 1 from La Celle-Saint-Cloud, just outside Paris. He dreams of becoming a diplomat. But as soon as he started his final school year in 2022, he was consumed by anxiety. “I had friends a little older than me who had outstanding results and weren’t accepted anywhere in September. All I could think about was getting away from the glitches of Parcoursup [the French national application platform for higher education].” He took the Sciences Po Paris entrance exam and failed, but this didn’t bother him, because in the meantime he had come across the UdeM stand at one of the student fairs he had visited.
In January, after reviewing his academic record, he received confirmation from UdeM that he had been given a place on a bachelor’s degree in international studies. Crossing the Atlantic for his studies required a significant financial sacrifice – he had to take out a bank loan of 40,000 Canadian dollars (€27,000) to cover the tuition fees of 9,600 Canadian dollars per year (around €6,500). This money also meant he could buy sturdy winter boots and a padded jacket, and rent a small apartment near the university, which was “hard to find and very expensive, but full of light.” This last point was crucial: “I had been warned that winter was tough, and there was no way I was going to burn out right away.”
**Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2023/09/18/fed-up-with-the-french-system-increasing-numbers-of-french-students-are-choosing-montreal_6137296_11.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2023/09/18/fed-up-with-the-french-system-increasing-numbers-of-french-students-are-choosing-montreal_6137296_11.html)
Good. They defend french language in Canada.
Vive le Québec libre.
Based on what I’ve heard from Canadians now is *not* the time to be an international student in Canada.
Let’s hope they will behave correctly and not tarnish our image in Quebec even more. Quebecois are wonderful people (I spent a few months near Montreal a couple of years ago, but for the most part don’t really appreciate the “sentiment de supériorité” of the Frech who visit them (and I can perfectly understand that). Be polite and respectful, and you have the most wonderful host you can dream of, be an asshole and be ready to pay for the consequences.
Good luck with the obscenely high cost of living and rampant xenophobia.
5 comments
**This year 3,400 French students started the new academic year at the University of Montréal, Canada’s largest French-language university.**
As Stromae’s Alors On Danse rang out in the stadium at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), at the foot of Mont Royal, the city’s green lung, students in the stands launched blue and white paper airplanes, the faculty’s colors, and took selfies to send to their parents. To welcome its 12,000 new students enrolled this fall, Canada’s largest French-language university put on a real show on August 29. There was a performance by the cheerleading team, all-you-can-eat popcorn and a parade of second and third-year students called “ambassadors”. They came on stage to tell the newly arrived freshmen that UdeM had “become [their] new home,” stress the need to “relax and enjoy your best years,” and pledged “to always be there” for the newcomers, “to help them integrate”.
This promise was primarily aimed at the new international students. Out of UdeM’s 40,000 students, one in four comes from abroad and French students make up the largest contingent. This academic year saw 3,400 enroll in one of the 600 or so study programs available.
Rayan Hermassi, 18, arrived in Québec on August 1 from La Celle-Saint-Cloud, just outside Paris. He dreams of becoming a diplomat. But as soon as he started his final school year in 2022, he was consumed by anxiety. “I had friends a little older than me who had outstanding results and weren’t accepted anywhere in September. All I could think about was getting away from the glitches of Parcoursup [the French national application platform for higher education].” He took the Sciences Po Paris entrance exam and failed, but this didn’t bother him, because in the meantime he had come across the UdeM stand at one of the student fairs he had visited.
In January, after reviewing his academic record, he received confirmation from UdeM that he had been given a place on a bachelor’s degree in international studies. Crossing the Atlantic for his studies required a significant financial sacrifice – he had to take out a bank loan of 40,000 Canadian dollars (€27,000) to cover the tuition fees of 9,600 Canadian dollars per year (around €6,500). This money also meant he could buy sturdy winter boots and a padded jacket, and rent a small apartment near the university, which was “hard to find and very expensive, but full of light.” This last point was crucial: “I had been warned that winter was tough, and there was no way I was going to burn out right away.”
**Read the full article here:** [**https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2023/09/18/fed-up-with-the-french-system-increasing-numbers-of-french-students-are-choosing-montreal_6137296_11.html**](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/campus/article/2023/09/18/fed-up-with-the-french-system-increasing-numbers-of-french-students-are-choosing-montreal_6137296_11.html)
Good. They defend french language in Canada.
Vive le Québec libre.
Based on what I’ve heard from Canadians now is *not* the time to be an international student in Canada.
Let’s hope they will behave correctly and not tarnish our image in Quebec even more. Quebecois are wonderful people (I spent a few months near Montreal a couple of years ago, but for the most part don’t really appreciate the “sentiment de supériorité” of the Frech who visit them (and I can perfectly understand that). Be polite and respectful, and you have the most wonderful host you can dream of, be an asshole and be ready to pay for the consequences.
Good luck with the obscenely high cost of living and rampant xenophobia.
Hope they’ll enjoy their stay.