Job Discussion Forums

[crikkieland2]

I am an american student currently enrolled in a masters program at the university of grenoble in the alps. i was planning on continuing with a phD, but was wondering if i can receive the same stipend that french th�sards receive (i.e. between 800 and 1200 euros a month to work on your doctorat) i do not have EU citizenship, nor am i married to someone who does. does this prevent me from getting money from the french government to do a Ph.D in france??

thanks for any help you can give!
christina

[Luder]

Not all the dissertation writers in the department where I'm doing a doctorate get a nice stipend. Far from it. The department usually has two or three research allocations to award. I think there are about fifteen or so new students every year, so the rest of us get left out, but not because we aren't French or European; rather, we might lose out because we're too old--you have to be under 32, I think--or because we don't have the grades.

The best person to ask would be the professor who directs your program; otherwise, you could ask the professor who is directing your work. One of those two would have to know what the scholarship situation in your department is.

[Jamparis]

Sorry for bumping this old post but I want to do my doctorate here in English and one professeur told me it isn't possible, that basically this is France and it therefore has to be in French, is that true, I am fluent in French but you know wriiten French is a killer for someone who learnt the language as an adult!

[Luder]

It's true. A doctoral dissertation from a French university must be written in French. Even if it's about, say, William Shakespeare. The only way to get around this requirement is do your work under co-tutelle. In this arrangement, your work will have two directors, one in France and one in a university abroad (you'll have to enroll and pay any fees in both places as well). In this case, your work can be written in the language, whatever it may be, of the foreign university.

The French ministry of education is, by the way, actively encouraging students to have their dissertations co-directed, and there is even some "mobility help" available, not, alas, for the student, but for the co-directors.

But I wouldn't look at having to write in French as the greatest obstacle to getting a doctorate in France. There are plenty of others.

[Jamparis]

thanks for your reply, but I know of a guy who wrote his dissertation in Spanish without it being co-directed, so I'm rather curious as to how he got away with that

[Jetset]

So what are the requirements for free schooling in france?

I hold a UK passport and I speak fluent french.

How long do I have to live there before I can study for free?