Phnom Penh : Second World Alumni Day at the French Embass

At the initiative of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr. Stéphane Séjourné, Campus France and the entire French diplomatic network are organizing the second France Alumni Day around the world from May 11 to 26.

France Alumni network

Based on the theme "French-speaking talents, global careers", this second edition continues the "France Alumni" actions around annual actions to celebrate the diversity of talents trained in France and their achievements on the five continents .

The France Alumni network was Launched in 2014 to enable French education international alumni to stay in touch with their peers, and also with France. The network brings together nearly 400,000 members in 128 countries. The first edition took place in May 2023, with nearly 220 events organized in over 90 countries, including Cambodia.

Event

On 24 May, 2024, the French Embassy organized an event in honor of Cambodian students who were graduated in 2023 both in France and from off-campus training programs relocated to Cambodia. The event gathered over 500 people at the Résidence de France, in the presence of former Alumni and an honorary Alumni: the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, His Excellency Dr. Hang Chuon Naron.

The event highlighted France's attractiveness and excellence in higher education and research, recognized in international rankings, as evidenced by the latest results of the Academic Ranking of World Universities, better known as the "Shanghai ranking", in which France retained its 3rd place worldwide for the fourth year in a row.

The Embassy's chargé d'affaires, Mr. Fabrice Etienne, recalled the strength of higher education cooperation between France and Cambodia. In addition to numerous scientific collaborations, notably with the French institutions like IRD and CIRAD, the Kingdom now boasts 15 universities that are member of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie. Mr. Etienne welcomed the 2023 Alumnis to the France Alumni Cambodge network.

Circulation Visa

To further strengthen the link between Alumni and France, the chargé d'affaires announced that, as of today, circulation visas will be issued to Alumni with a Master's degree or higher.

A short-stay Schengen visa (covering 29 European countries, including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland) valid from 1 to 5 years can be issued to Alumni who have studied in France, as well as to their spouses and minor children.

This visa will allow them to stay for a total of 90 days, accumulated or split into half-yearly periods, within the limit of their passport's validity. Visa applications are made through the French Embassy's service provider, TLScontact.

A valid passport, a copy of the Master's or Doctorate diploma and registration on the France Alumni Cambodge website (www.francealumni.fr) must be included in the visa application.

France Alumni Cambodge

The France Alumni Cambodge website was launched in November 2015 and currently has almost 900 Cambodian alumni. In reality, the France Alumni Cambodge network is much more extensive: every year, around 150 new Cambodian students leave to experience studies in France and there are over 800 Cambodian students in France to date. The majority of these students receive grants. They mainly go to France thanks to the French government's scholarship program 'France Excellence' (around 30 new scholarships per year), the Eiffel Excellence program (around 10 per year), the Erasmus + program (around 15 per year) and the Specialized and Advanced Specialized Medical Training program (DFMS/DFMSA, around 70 per year). Scholarships cofinanced with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports or with the Cambodian Academy of Digital Technology (CADT) also support student mobility.

Finally, thanks to the support of our generous sponsors: Cambodia Airports - VINCI, Bioderma and Camed Business School, numerous prizes were distributed to participants during the evening at the Residence, and the first Alumni won a plane ticket to France.

More photographs here...and here