CFJ  >   INTERNATIONAL  >  International students

International students

Welcome to the CFJ!

 

Open to the world and its range of cultures, the Centre de Formation des Journalistes, located in central Paris, is an independent school which helps journalism students to achieve their goals. Since 1947, the CFJ has trained 2700 journalists, welcoming fifty students per school year. Our teachings are based on concrete values: objective reporting, fact-checking, free speech, systematically working with the strictures of doubt and team work.

2 weeks or 2 years?

The CFJ actively encourages applications from international students, either as part of our two-year degree programme, or as part of an agreement with another school abroad, generally lasting a semester (30 ECTS credits maximum). Our application to join the Erasmus+ Charter is currently being processed. In the meantime, everything we do respects the ambitious aims set out by the European Union in terms of higher education, in agreement with the European establishments who share these same aims.

The CFJ has set up a European and International Relations Office in order to help students, teachers and schools abroad to meet their international goals in partnership with us.

Joining the 2-year programme

 

If you are a French-speaking international student, you can apply to the CFJ in the same way as a French student. You will be given access to the same teaching methods and also the same rights as our French students. We must, however, point out that you will need to have a good level of oral and written French as well as an awareness of French culture (public institutions, the economy etc). These skills will be evaluated both through your application and your oral entrance exam.

Please find below a summary of our degree programme. For further details, you can consult the information on this site concerning Admissions (in particular, our entrance exam rules) and our courses.

Admissions policy

Candidates to our school must take an entrance exam. To find out the dates of each test, please check our calendar.

In order to take our entrance exam, you must have a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent (180 ECTS) or be enrolled to complete one

The first stage of the application process is to register as a candidate and then send your application to the CFJ during the first trimester of your school year. You must pay a fee to register for our entrance exam.

If your initial application is accepted, you will take the same entrance exams as French candidates, in the same conditions, between mid-May and mid-June of your school year. In order to take these tests, you will need to be present for two consecutive days at the CFJ’s premises in Paris. The tests are made up of an investigative report (written and oral) and tests on current affairs, general knowledge and English (an oral with some written preparation).

Your application and your written tests must all be completed in French. All your documentation must be written in French or in English. Candidates may only register as students once their application has been expressly accepted by the managing directors of the CFJ. Their decision is final. Please note that if we agree to register you as a candidate or accept your application or allow you to take our entrance exams, none of these things implies you have been accepted as a student. We only decide who to admit as a student once the admissions procedures have been fully completed.

School fees amount to 6 790 € per year, no matter what nationality you are. Please note that the fee you pay to take our entrance exam and any tuition fees paid by a given candidate cannot be reimbursed, except in the specific circumstances set out in the entrance exam rules.

Classes begin in September.

Warnings:

All candidates must check if they have the necessary legal and statutory rights to live in France for two years in order to follow our degree course and complete a number of professional internships. The CFJ cannot complete any such procedures on the behalf of candidates or support them in this, nor supply any kind of certificate.

Candidates are also responsible for paying their school fees and living expenses.

 

Our degree programme

Our degree course lasts two years. The first year is dedicated to learning the basics of journalism and ends with an internship at a French regional daily newspaper over the summer.

The second year is dedicated to the students’ majors and helps them become versatile professionals. We offer four majors:

  • 1st year: Basic journalism (web and written press), investigative journalism and introduction to audio-visual media)
    • Advanced television techniques
    • Advanced radio techniques
    • Advanced visual writing techniques and mobile journalism
    • Advanced writing techniques, investigative journalism and data visualisation
  • 2nd year: Students choose from:
    • Advanced television techniques
    • Advanced radio techniques
    • Advanced visual writing techniques and mobile journalism
    • Advanced writing techniques, investigative journalism and data visualisation

As part of their majors, second year students complete at least two one-to-four-week internships.

Important

In order to complete the mandatory internship at the end of their first year in the best possible conditions, we strongly recommend that students come to France with a valid international driving licence. Their work load will make taking their driving test during the two-year course very difficult. Not having a driving licence is a serious disadvantage for job seekers, since most businesses require it.

Our teaching methods

The CFJ’s teaching methods are based on practical exercises, autonomy, self-evaluation and both the need and the desire to learn. The mentorship we provide allows our students to progress quickly and launch easily into a professional career.

All of our teaching staff are media professionals. Two internships, one at a regional daily press office at the end of the first year and another at the end of the second year, provide unique first-hand experience with a French media channel.

At our premises located between Bastille and Nation, right at the heart of Paris, we offer numerous classrooms with IT equipment and projectors as well as a television and a radio studio.

Our degree

The degree we deliver after two years of study is a Master’s degree recognized by the French state. The CFJ is one of the 14 journalism schools in France recognized by the profession.

 

Joining the CFJ as part of an agreement with your home school

 

Laval University in Quebec (Canada)

Laval University in Quebec (Canada) renewed their partnership with the CFJ in 2018, allowing students from both establishments to complete part of their degree programme abroad.

Course catalogue

Students from Laval University can take classes during the first semester of the first year at the CFJ (from the 2nd week of September through to the end of December), for a total of 30 ECTS credits. This gives them access to:

  • 2 weeks at a press agency
  • 3 weeks of writing techniques
  • 3 weeks of television/radio/newsroom basics (writing for the web)
  • 2 weeks off (or a 2-week internship)
  • 3 weeks in ‘daily newspaper’ mode, during which the class produces a daily paper or web newspaper, like Le Parisien, over the course of a week
  • 2 weeks of work on source materials, during which students meet with and question journalists specialized in the fields of politics, police, legal and financial matters, terrorism, armed conflicts, sport, culture etc.

 

Learn more about our courses

We request that candidates talk to the International Relations office of their home school before contacting their host school.

 

A successful international education

 

How will the CFJ support me?

Studying abroad is first and foremost a personal choice. Students must define their goals and check they have the necessary means to attain them. The CFJ has a team dedicated to international education. For more information, please check with the European and International Relations Office

Can I get credit for my courses?

The terms according to which courses can be validated and grades or credits earned during a give study abroad programme are set out in the agreement signed by partner schools and listed in the learning agreement selected by the candidate and the partners schools before the programme begins.

The CFJ has been using the ECTS credit system for a long time, and this facilitates mutual recognition between the courses on offer at different European or international establishments.

Learn more about evaluations and ECTS credits

 

Living in Paris

 

Our managing directors, administrative personnel, teaching staff, Alumni Network and, of course, students can all help you feel at home at our school and in Paris, generally speaking. A student union is elected every year and represents the two classes currently enrolled at the CFJ in order to organise activities for students both internally and in partnership with other schools. An orientation weekend at the start of the school year helps everyone get to know each other. The student union also organizes sporting and cultural activities as well as masterclasses on subjects linked to journalism or current affairs.

France welcomes 300 000 international students every year and Paris is their city of choice. The International Student Help Centre is thus available to provide information about life in Paris.

To find out more, please check the website la Ville de Paris