Good day, I will shortly introduce myself before commencing to aim of the thread.
I am a graduate of Theoretical Physics (Msc) which I obtained from Université de Cergy Pontoise, prior to this degree, I had studied Physics and Electronics(BSc) in a state owned Nigeria University, due to my academics excellence in the area of Physics especially Statistical Mechanics, I was able to obtain a PhD at Ecole Normale Superiere Lyon this year. My research work is mainly base on Crystal material where I am investigating mechanical properties of High Entropy Alloy.

Fast-forward to How to get an admission in France.

Well, prior to last decade, English course in France institute were so limited compare to present day where almost all faculty have a specialised international course. One common way to get admission is using Campus France, which 90% of foreign applicant use and also advisable by most school, but one traditional way which people ignore always is Google search, I personal used Google to obtain my admission in France without the help of Campus France, all you need to do is type "masters in {subject of desired}" on Google chrome (advisable because most site are in French language but Google chrome translate automatic), you will get to know if your course is in English or French but like I said earlier most course are in French. One good thing about France is that, your CGPA doesn't matter in getting an admission, recommendation letter and motivational letter speaks volume and a well organised CV.

Continuation
They are basically two type of Universities in France, we have the Grand Ecole{Mainly engineering} and Public University which I attended. The Grand ecole are very expensive tuition fee ranges at (11k-15k Euros) while the public school are pretty cheap before 2018 but presently it cost (3,999€) to study in a public school although some schools still go with the old price which is 248€.

Difficulties of France Education.
I will be lieing to you if I say France education is manageable with work, I mean work and study (if you are in STEM), France education is one of the hardest in the world, and if you use the same Nigeria education mentality, you will find yourself been frustrated with failure. The CGPA is over 20 compare to Nigeria over 5, the French believe that if you score 16/20 as your final grade, you are a genius because in real sense it hardly occur. 16/20 will be equivalent to nigeria 4/5.00 CGPA. Due to the difficulties, the French system organised second exam called rattrapage, this is an exam you will do if at the end of the year you couldn't validate your result that is you didn't score 10/20 which is the validation mark.

Continuation
Final year of Msc programme

During your final year which is normally called M2, many thought will come to your mind because at this time, you are either thinking of what next or you don't even know what next.
The M2 will give you opportunity to carry out a compulsory internship called Stage, during this time, you are suppose to look for a company or a laboratory (if science) to carry out your thesis or research work. If you work in a Laboratory you will be paid 564€ and if you work in a company, you will get paid 1,300€ before tax for 6months (You get paid each month the said amount), this look sweet right but trust me, it is very difficult to get an internship in france, it based on luck and good result to beat off competition.

At the end of your internship you will carryout your research presentation or thesis defense, it is at this time you start knowing what next for you. If you aim at a PhD, you might get a PhD directly from your Laboratory where your research was carried out or you get get elsewhere before you defend. But note in France you must score a grade of 12/20 above to be able to qualify for a PhD position even if at all you see one.

What Next after Msc?
This is the biggest question many fumble at after Msc in France due to language difference, there two things that can make you skip this dilemma
1.PhD
2. Job offer

In most cast 90% of Msc graduate are left in the wilderness to obtain a resident card called APS which allow foreign student to stay behind for a year to look for Job after their studies, some student try to avoid APS because of the problems it comes with, if you get an APS, you can only change it to a resident permit if you get a Job in line with your course of study which can be difficult to obtain sometimes in French, so at the end of one year, most APS holder becomes illegal due to the fact that they couldnt secure a job in their line of study. Hence student run away from this knowing fully well that to obtain a Job in France is probability if you don't speak the language proficiently.

Now what to do after Msc programme
Here is what I feel graduate should do:

1. Apply for APS and try focusing more on multinational company

2. If 6months after APS collection no work, try to register as Autoentrepreneur (self employ) find something to do, this will allow the administration to give you one more year after APS

3. If you don't understand the Language, try attending French school or focus your energy in another country, French diploma is well respected

4. Try looking for a PhD if you have a good grade via euraxess.eu, abgasso.fr etc. You will get something if you have a good research work

5. Pray to God

Best.

Nice. Say you get a job in line with your degree. Is there any minimum or mandatory number of years of work before converting APS to residence? Or just a year.

Also is there a minimum salary requirement for said jobs in lieu of converting APS to residence as well?

@Gavrelino123

The truth is that if you can't speak or learn how to speak French fluently, forget France because you have no future there. Even low skilled manual job is unattainable to someone who can't speak French.

annex1:
Nice. Say you get a job in line with your degree. Is there any minimum or mandatory number of years of work before converting APS to residence? Or just a year.

Also is there a minimum salary requirement for said jobs in lieu of converting APS to residence as well?

Nice questions I must confess,
1. Once you get a contract for a job either CDD(which is a contract for a certain period of time) or CDI (permanent contract) you are required to immediately go to your City administration or better called prefecture with your contract to convert your APS to normal residence permit. So you don't have to work any numbers of year to change your APS. You change 15days after you get your contract.

2. There is a minimum salary that can be accepted for your APS to be change, its €1,500 and above. Any contract or salarie properly called below this amount won't be accepted.

Goddys:
The truth is that if you can't speak or learn how to speak French fluently, forget France because you have no future there. Even low skilled manual job is unattainable to someone who can't speak French.

You are totally right about this but I hate discouraging people as well, so I do advice graduate to look elsewhere after their Msc because the chance of surviving in France without you speaking the language is 1/1000000 except you have God grace. Even at the end you will see graduate ending up working as agent de Propiete(cleaning agent), Seveur (serving food in restaurant). You will see people giving testimonies about getting Jobs in France in their line of study, I call it God grace because sometime the French company still want you to speak French like the native even if you manage to attain a B2 level.

Some trick you can use to extend your stay in France after your Msc graduate

1. If you are not sure of your French language level, avoid APS and try apply for another Masters programme(well I advice this because you still retain your student status and you can still do your odd job to survive compare to becoming illegal after APS finish) but not this work with people with age 24-27, so you don't use all your life studying.

2. Try to look for a cleaning Job, have a good relationship with the management, they can always give you a contract that shows your condition improve on paper while on reality you are just a common cleaner with this contract you can get your student status to regular resident permit

3. This is a funny one but work as well, fail yourself purposely (Senegalese do this alot in public school), so you can register the following year, all. French University permit you to stay for a programme maximum of 4years

4. Without a Job, if you stay in France for 5years, you are automatically qualify for a resident permit, so point 3 will do here and one year APS inclusive make it 5years, the following year.. You can apply for resident permit

5. During your M2 programme avoid doing your internship with established company like Orange, Bouygues, Total oil and gas etc, rather aim at new start up. Company or business but this establish ones will never retain you but your chance of been taking in with a start up company is 80% sure.

6. Make friends with French people, they can help you in opening company by becoming partner... _French system has one of the best social security service in the world, your banks will happily help you...

7. Register for formations(like a graduate trainee in Nigeria) in your line of study. In France all field as formation and you are required to pay a fee but if you are working as a student before applying for formation, an organisation called pole emploie will pay 80% or 100% of your fee. Most formations help you to find a Job even before finishing with them.

God bless the German government.

I was wondering why people are not talking about France and schooling even though their tuition fees are relatively cheap.

Now I got my answer

Goddys:
The truth is that if you can't speak or learn how to speak French fluently, forget France because you have no future there. Even low skilled manual job is unattainable to someone who can't speak French.

French isn't hard to learn.

So how long does it take to get PR ( permanent residence) in France after msc

Get work first

hammed71:
So how long does it take to get PR ( permanent residence) in France after msc

Schooling as a Native English speaker in France has it's unique frustrations, most especially as a researcher... it gets better as your French gets better, otherwise naaaah it's not an easy task, the French academic system is not just tough but nerve wracking.

Just imagine the pure torture of finding material to do research in a French library, or Journals... or the dreaded phase of a research internship in a public establishment, good heavens! What people don't tell you is finding academic material in English from Journals and Libraries for data collection especially in specialized areas in France, is almost like climbing mount Everest without an oxygen tank.
Special Shout out to Google translate for saving lives.

To make matters worse after even struggling to learn the French language you realize that there are some regions like Marseille where the French accent makes French sound like something else. You feel like absolutely giving up sometimes. A colleague of mine did a research internship in Marseille for some months and when we last met, can you believe this guy has literally forgotten how to speak English straight, he was slipping several times and I found it very amusing... then he told me the stress he was going through.

Schooling in France especially for a graduate degree is not for the faint of heart, though it is worth it, but if you are not prepared for a nerve wracking experience please go to an English speaking country and do your studies in peace.

electromagnito:


Nice questions I must confess,
1. Once you get a contract for a job either CDD(which is a contract for a certain period of time) or CDI (permanent contract) you are required to immediately go to your City administration or better called prefecture with your contract to convert your APS to normal residence permit. So you don't have to work any numbers of year to change your APS. You change 15days after you get your contract.

2. There is a minimum salary that can be accepted for your APS to be change, its €1,500 and above. Any contract or salarie properly called below this amount won't be accepted.

Thanks. Really good to know.

electromagnito:
Good day, I will shortly introduce myself before commencing to aim of the thread.
I am a graduate of Theoretical Physics (Msc) which I obtained from Université de Cergy Pontoise, prior to this degree, I had studied Physics and Electronics(BSc) in a state owned Nigeria University, due to my academics excellence in the area of Physics especially Statistical Mechanics, I was able to obtain a PhD at Ecole Normale Superiere Lyon this year. My research work is mainly base on Crystal material where I am investigating mechanical properties of High Entropy Alloy.

Fast-forward to How to get an admission in France.

Well, prior to last decade, English course in France institute were so limited compare to present day where almost all faculty have a specialised international course. One common way to get admission is using Campus France, which 90% of foreign applicant use and also advisable by most school, but one traditional way which people ignore always is Google search, I personal used Google to obtain my admission in France without the help of Campus France, all you need to do is type "masters in {subject of desired}" on Google chrome (advisable because most site are in French language but Google chrome translate automatic), you will get to know if your course is in English or French but like I said earlier most course are in French. One good thing about France is that, your CGPA doesn't matter in getting an admission, recommendation letter and motivational letter speaks volume and a well organised CV.

Please and please kindly respond ASAP.
Must the CV be in Europass format, for someone applying to an Italian University?

Senegalese student who went missing in France
Diary Sow disappearance in France has caused concern in both countries.
http://en.hausatv.com/news/content/23264

electromagnito:
Now what to do after Msc programme
Here is what I feel graduate should do:

1. Apply for APS and try focusing more on multinational company

2. If 6months after APS collection no work, try to register as Autoentrepreneur (self employ) find something to do, this will allow the administration to give you one more year after APS

3. If you don't understand the Language, try attending French school or focus your energy in another country, French diploma is well respected

4. Try looking for a PhD if you have a good grade via euraxess.eu, abgasso.fr etc. You will get something if you have a good research work

5. Pray to God

Best.

Well done on this piece, op.

It seems to me that the experience in Western Europe is similar for international students in terms of the struggle for jobs and integration after studies.

The numerous pathways on getting PR in Canada after studies ranks second to none in the developed world. So I think people who have their private funds to study abroad with the intention of not returning immediately after their studies should look that way.

I would like to message you if you don't mind. As I would like to share your study in France story on a page that is dedicated to sharing study abroad experience from people who have experienced it to people looking to experience it. If you agree to this, your post will be modified to accommodate the house style.

I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers.