On June 11th 2020, a webinar of “Tips for Getting Scholarships and Studies at French Universities” has successfully been held online via zoom by International Office of Tadulako University. It was opened by Prof. Dr. H. Amar Akbar Ali, ST., MT as the vice rector of development and cooperation in Tadulako University. This seminar was held online due to the pandemic of Corona virus yet it was no less interesting compared to the seminar conducted in person. This webinar was joint by 217 participants including students, lecturers, teachers from some regions, the committee and two great speakers, Indri Novita Sari, the person in charge of Warung Perancis IFI Surabaya and Sitti Fhatimah Sarroh, a student majoring Littératures, Arts et Sciences Sociales (LASS) Master Degree in Université de Poitiers. All participants were allowed to write down their questions through the room chat available on Zoom. It was interesting since some motivation to study overseas was given by the head of International Office of Tadulako University,Prof. Marsetyo, M.Sc.,Agr.Ph.D before the webinar was opened.
The first speaker, Ms. Indri who is also the alumnus of a university in France, shared the information about education in that country including the education system of higher degree, some scholarship offered by France government from undergraduate to doctoral programs like IFI Excellence Master, EIFEL scholarship and how important to know French as well since many programs offered use that language to communicate or interact to others. She also mentioned and explained some benefits of studying in that country to encourage the participants to pursue degrees there. One of the benefits is that the international students can join cultural programs at no charge and they will get the health insurance for free. Interestingly, it was mentioned that students can have special price for the culinary which is cheaper than the normal prices by simply showing the student card to purchase some food. Another benefit is that the students pursuing degrees there can have few months of holiday where they can possibly use it to visit some great places in that country. Additionally, she briefly gave other information about the universities in France and how to find the appropriate programs by using a website shared on screen. At the end of her presentation, she showed some scholarship types which can be applied to study there and described each type particularly.
The second speaker, Ms. Sitti Fhatimah Sarroh, a BGF (Bourse du Government Francais) scholarship grantee, shared her experience on being an international student in France and how is the life there including the very first time she adapted to the life situations in that country. She then presented some tips to be some considerations needed to be made before joining a university in France. They are having known the history of the university, scholarship offered, and geographical location as it would make her easily access some great places there. Moreover, she explained about DELF as a French-language skill requirement for the non-French candidates to join a university which they need to acquire B1/B2 level for joining the higher education. However it is possible to use the TOEFL and IELTS certificate for some programs using English as the language’s instruction. She finally ended her presentation by sharing information about Indonesian Student Association which the France alumni and how the association works. There were many questions coming from the participants sent through the room chat during the two presentations. Some questions were answered by the first speaker while Ms. Ima Sarroh presenting hers and others answered by her right away after she finished the presentation. All questions have covered the information about the education and life in France.
Furthermore, Mr. Mukrim Tamrin, a coordinator of outbound in International Office of Tadulako University who was also a moderator for the webinar, concisely presented the profile of Warung Perancis in Tadulako University as many participants from Palu asked on how to join in. The webinar lasted for two hours and all participants were interested to have joined by the comments they wrote in the room chat.