France and the U.S. are vibrantly associated through exchange programs. These dynamic relationships grow by the day, aided by internet and by affordable air access. Both the U.S. and French governments are invested in promoting exchanges, alongside dozens of not-for-profit as well as commercial providers. For example of over one million annual French visitors to the U.S. in 2009 and recent years, around 20,000 per year were engaged in study programs. Likewise, in the range of 7,000 French students have studied in the U.S. annually in recent years.
UNIVERSITY EXCHANGES
Universities develop their own exchanges, often presented on their websites and numbering in the hundreds.
MICEFA is a consortium of most of the Universities of Paris and its region. It also includes over 80 partner universities in the United States and Canada. MICEFA was created in 1985 to promote cultural and scientific cooperation between France and North America.
Several U.S. universities maintain French year abroad programs, while The American University of Paris is the only American university accredited in France. Alumni from American universities have established alumni clubs in France.
FULBRIGHT
Established in 1946 by the U.S. Congress, The Fulbright Program’s goal is to increase exchange and understanding between Americans and people around the world.
The Educational Advising Center, unique in France, allows French students, scholars and administrators of the French secondary and higher educational systems to learn more about the American educational system.
AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE
One of the oldest student exchange organizations is the American Field Service (AFS). Founded in 1914, AFS began as a volunteer ambulance corps, and after the war grew into the field of student exchange.
INTERNSHIPS, SUMMER JOBS
AND TEACHING ASSISTANCE
The French Labor Ministry manages internship exchanges with the U.S.
The Ministry of Education runs a teaching assistant program that brings more than one thousand American university students to France yearly to assist language teachers in their classrooms.
Camp counselor and au pair programs in the U.S. are popular with French students.
SCIENCES
The French Embassy in Washington publishes a list of scientific exchange opportunities.
SISTER CITIES
Sister city relationships unite dozens of French and U.S. cities.
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