Campus France is a French organization, that will help you with your visa file and pre-validate it. The Campus France interview is often mandatory and it’s a distinct procedure from your appointment with the visa center. Campus France is not in charge of your visa and cannot be held responsible for its issuance or refusal. The interview aims to assess the educational project of the candidate and to pre-check his file. All other aspects of your file will be assessed by the visa section that will make the final decision of issuing (or not) the visa.

You will have some fees to pay for Campus France except if you have a scholarship if you are part of an exchange program or if you had your French baccalauréate within the last 4 years.

The Campus France appointment can happen in 2 ways : 

• 1. You have created an account on Etudes en France and paid the fees because your country asks for that step. Check the list here. Campus France will contact you and you need to wait for their approval before meeting the VISA center (around 2/3 weeks). If you have followed up on our process on the Feel Francais platform, you should be all set and have all the documents to succeed in your interview with the Campus France advisor. This interview is a decisive step for your arrival in France. Read our advice on the top questions asked to make sure you succeed in your Campus France interview. You also can visit the Campus France website for more information.

• 2. You don’t have to do the Etudes en France process but you still need to do a Campus France interview. Having a Campus France in your country doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do an interview with them. You need to contact them to be sure. You will find their contact here.

Please note that for some countries the Campus France appointment can be held in another city of your country rather than the place where you live which means that you need to expect traveling to do the interview.

TOP 10 questions asked during the Campus France interview:

1- Introduce yourself

A question that is asked in almost all types of interviews. You can prepare 2 to 3 lines on which you greet the person in front of you. Then, explain why you are there and express your motivation to pass the interview.

Example of answer:

“Hello, I present myself (your name and first name). I am (your age) years old, I am (you say what you are currently doing, your study, work or internship, etc). I will be happy to answer all your questions“

2- What guided you toward French education?

During this question depending on your country of origin, you can highlight several points:

• The quality of studies in France
• Recognition of your country of origin of French diplomas
• The ease of finding a job in your country of origin with a French diplomat
• The French system takes seriously the reception of foreign students, who benefit from many advantages like French students
• The easy business immersion that allows training in France compared to what you have in your country

Example of answer:

“I opted for France because it is a country which offers quality training, a multitude of advantages for foreign students which is similar to French students, but also because once my training is over I know that in my country of origin, it is a diploma which is recognized by the State and by the recruiters, therefore, a fruitful training from all sides”.

3- What are your motivations for choosing your training

To anticipate the answer to this question, you must put on paper what is your study project and your professional project.
A professional project can be for example wanting to be a network and information systems architect. Your study project could be in order to do scientific preparatory classes. Or a license in networks followed by a master/school of engineering in the field of networks and information systems. So, concretely what you will do as a study that will help you achieve your professional dream.

Example of response:

“What enormously motivated me for the choice of his training is that it allows me to perfectly realize what I have traced as a professional project is the perfect study project to become [project manager Marketing, Commercial, Computer Engineer, etc.“

4- What is your professional project?

This is definitely a top question asked during a Campus France interview.
When you are brought up to tackle this subject, you need all 3 ingredients that we consider essential:

• Motivation, have a passion for what you want to do
• Know exactly what you want to do (that said, you want to work in which sector of activity, exercising which profession, etc.)
• And of course the consistency of what you do as a choice of training (study project) with this professional project

Example of answer:

“My short-term professional project is to integrate a company as a network and information systems engineer. In the medium term, I plan to move to the position of architect”.

IMPORTANT: You can adapt your examples according to what you do. But above all, make sure that it is consistent with your choice of training and your study project.

5- Why did you choose this study project?

The study project as we may have talked about in the last few questions is the study trajectory or your choice of training.

Example of answer:

“I chose the training in network systems and information security because I would like to be an architect in information systems security, this study project will allow me to receive complete training which will assure me of the realization of my professional project”.

In addition, having a well-defined and coherent scholar and professional path is important when applying to Campus France, because it shows that you have a clear plan for your academic and professional development and proves that your previous studies and experiences are relevant to your chosen field of study.  If you are planning to reorient yourself to a different academic path, it is important to justify this decision. It is essential to provide a clear explanation for your decision to reorient yourself, including any relevant experiences or factors that have led you to this decision. Campus France wants to see that you have carefully considered your options and have a solid plan for your academic and professional future.

6- Why did you get bad marks in a given year/semester?

Sample answer:

“Getting bad or even good grades is part of the normal student curriculum for all students at all levels. The management of studies, like anything else in life, is a management that is sometimes meant as a priority. From the start, one of my first goals was to focus on the subjects that make up the heart of my job, which you can also notice on my notes”.

How can you minimize the risk of visa refusal?

It is to understand that when Campus France validates your file it doesn’t mean that it guarantees the issuance of a student visa. The visa center is the sole decision maker for visa approval. Campus France only verifies that students are legitimate and not seeking to immigrate illegally to France. It is therefore essential to make coherent choices in terms of studies relative to previous academic backgrounds to have a chance of obtaining a visa and to also provide a solid and complete file for the visa center. If the visa application is refused, it is difficult to obtain it with a new attempt unless specific documents are missing. Therefore, it is important to present a perfect application from the first attempt.

In our agency, we create the accounts for you and reducing the risk of having your visa application rejected by reviewing all of your documents before you submit your application to the visa center. You can avail of our services by purchasing our services.

We hope that these examples of questions have helped you get fully prepared for your Campus France interview. If you still have some questions, you can read our article in which we give you more advice.