As Stromae's Alors On Danse rang out in the stadium at the Université de Montréal (UdeM), at the foot of Mont Royal, the city's green lung, students in the stands launched blue and white paper airplanes, the faculty's colors, and took selfies to send to their parents. To welcome its 12,000 new students enrolled this fall, Canada's largest French-language university put on a real show on August 29. There was a performance by the cheerleading team, all-you-can-eat popcorn and a parade of second and third-year students called "ambassadors". They came on stage to tell the newly arrived freshmen that UdeM had "become [their] new home," stress the need to "relax and enjoy your best years," and pledged "to always be there" for the newcomers, "to help them integrate".

This promise was primarily aimed at the new international students. Out of UdeM's 40,000 students, one in four comes from abroad and French students make up the largest contingent. This academic year saw 3,400 enrol in one of the 600 or so study programs available.

Rayan Hermassi, 18, arrived in Québec on August 1 from La Celle-Saint-Cloud, just outside Paris. He dreams of becoming a diplomat. But as soon as he started his final school year in 2022, he was consumed by anxiety. "I had friends a little older than me who had outstanding results and weren't accepted anywhere in September. All I could think about was getting away from the glitches of Parcoursup [the French national application platform for higher education]." He took the Sciences Po Paris entrance exam and failed, but this didn't bother him, because in the meantime he had come across the UdeM stand at one of the student fairs he had visited.

In January, after reviewing his academic record, he received confirmation from UdeM that he had been given a place on a bachelor's degree in international studies. Crossing the Atlantic for his studies required a significant financial sacrifice – he had to take out a bank loan of 40,000 Canadian dollars (€27,000) to cover the tuition fees of 9,600 Canadian dollars per year (around €6,500). This money also meant he could buy sturdy winter boots and a padded jacket, and rent a small apartment near the university, which was "hard to find and very expensive, but full of light." This last point was crucial: "I had been warned that winter was tough, and there was no way I was going to burn out right away."

The pressure she was facing to get into university in France was also what prompted Louise Monier to leave Cherbourg, in northern Normandy, for Canada. "The competitive entrance exams for the political science institutes seemed out of reach to me," she said. She too spoke of a desire "to escape the stress of Parcoursup and be in a supportive environment". Accepted on to a bachelor's degree in political communication, she signed up for a sponsorship program for new students set up by the university administration as soon as she arrived. Her "mentor," a third-year student following the same study program, has already shown her around Montréal and introduced her to people to hang out with.

You have 60.76% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.