The Directorate of International and European Relations (DRIE), and more particularly the Sub-Directorate of International Reception, participated and contributed to the 12th Reception Conference organized by Campus France in Montpellier. This national highlight brought together 441 participants and 172 establishments this year, a participation record which testifies to the growing interest of French universities in structuring a real reception strategy, now fully identified as a major lever of international attractiveness, notably through the Bienvenue en France label.
The University of Lorraine was represented during a round table moderated by Isabel Keller, dedicated to the presentation of international reception and intercultural training. This system notably contributed to obtaining the 3 stars of the Bienvenue en France label, the highest level of the label.
On this occasion, the International Reception Sub-Directorate also presented its poster “Train, Unite, Transform”, highlighting a structuring project carried out by the DRIE to make international reception a real lever of transformation within the establishment.
This project is based on three complementary axes: the professionalization of staff, the animation of a professional community around reception, and innovation by listening to users, in particular through focus groups carried out with international students.
A dynamic initiated since 2020
This project began to be structured in 2020 with the launch of the training program “Welcome and support international students: become a Welcome to France Ambassador”. To date, this program has made it possible to train more than a hundred staff among the education services and the CRICs (component international relations correspondents), who welcome each year nearly 2,000 newly arrived international students across the University of Lorraine.
Beyond improving the skills of field staff, this system also aims to create a community of professionals identified within the components through the network of “Ambassadors Welcome to France”.
For the DRIE, the Bienvenue en France label constitutes a real lever for involving the components. Obtaining it at the central level cannot fully produce its effects without the support of field staff, in direct contact with international students and primary representatives of the university’s image.
A new turning point in 2026: workshops to structure continuous improvement
This year marks a new stage in the project, with the establishment of new animation and meeting spaces promoting the dissemination of information, the sharing of practices and above all the mutual knowledge between those involved in reception at the University of Lorraine.
This dynamic is reflected in the deployment of two complementary animation formats for staff: the “International Welcome” workshops and the “Welcome to France” workshops.
The “International Welcome” workshops aim to strengthen knowledge between those in the field, to disseminate up-to-date information on approaches and support systems, but also to encourage exchanges of practices between education services, international relations correspondents and DRIE teams.
They constitute real spaces for dialogue, designed as times for training, monitoring and cooperation in the service of improving reception. The objective of the Sub-Directorate is to eventually integrate all the organizations concerned, in particular the CROUS, which will be present at the next workshop devoted to housing for international students.
At the same time, the “Welcome to France” workshops are part of a more prospective and participatory approach. On the basis of an inventory constructed from different surveys, student focus groups and feedback from the field, they aim to analyze the international student experience more closely around three major dimensions: administrative procedures, institutional communication and integration into university life and student.
The objective is to transform these findings into concrete avenues for improvement, co-constructed with staff directly involved in reception, in order to develop the systems as closely as possible to the needs expressed by students and realities on the ground.
Through this dynamic, the University of Lorraine reaffirms its desire to place the international student experience at the heart of its attractiveness and internationalization strategy.
To find out more about these systems and upcoming workshops, consult the Accueil international wiki.
