Welcome booklet PhD students - IP Paris

Preparing for a period of study abroad means preparing your budget!
To help you, take a look at the table of different expenses you are likely to incur on campus. These amounts are given for guidance only and based on average prices.

You are advised to set a higher total budget than what is indicated here in order to cover other necessary expenses (food, clothes etc.), going out in Paris and visiting the region.

One-off fees to be paid upon your arrival on campus

Recurrent fees to be paid while you are living on campus

Since 2023, IP Paris has set up a free platform to help international students with the steps they need to take to prepare for coming to France: LivinFrance.

This platform offers resources and useful contacts for 

• All administrative formalities (visa, home insurance, civil liability, etc.)
• finding accommodation 
• Setting up a bank account in France
• Finding a telephone operator to suit your needs
• Travel insurance
• Apply for the LivinFrance grant (€1,000) for newcomers to France
• Etc.

Creating an account couldn't be easier.

Log on to https://livin-france.com/institut-polytchnique-de-paris/login and follow the 3 steps to create your account.

Log in to find the information you're looking for.

The Institut Polytechnique de Paris has a number of apartments and shared flats in residences located either on the École Polytechnique site, in partner residences in the Massy (91), Palaiseau (91) and Cachan (94) areas, or in the ECLA Campus partner residence.

To allocate these few apartments, the Institute applies an allocation policy that gives priority to the following students (in this order):

• Students admitted to the PhD Track
• Students with grants
• Foreign students arriving in France for the first time.

Please note: students who have been allocated accommodation by the Institute will not be able to choose their place of residence, nor will they be able to choose between a single studio or shared accommodation. There will be no systematic allocation.

As the Institut Polytechnique de Paris has a limited number of apartments to offer, we strongly advise you to look for alternative solutions on this page or on our website.

Your application for accommodation will only be processed once your enrollment file has been approved and your tuition fees have been paid.
Applications for accommodation will not be processed unless the enrollment file has been approved by the Institut Polytechnique de Paris admissions team.

More information

Long-stay student visa or Visa passeport talent chercheur (linked to a contract of employment)

• If you are a national of one of the 27 European Union countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you do not need a visa to come study in France.
• If you are not a national of one of the 27 European Union countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, you must apply for a long-stay student visa valid as a French residence permit (VLS-TS – Visa étudiant Long Séjour valant Titre de Séjour)

This visa allows you to remain in France for one year without needing to request a residence permit. Your visa will need to be approved by the OFII (the French Immigration and Integration Office) within the first three months of your arrival in France on this website.

Visa application

Find your Campus France space via this link. Campus France centers are here to welcome you and help you complete the formalities.

The Campus France website is packed with useful resources and information to help you prepare for your study period in France.

• If you live in one of the 67 countries covered by the "Etudes en France" (Studying in France) procedure, you must create an account on the Etude en France platform, mentioning your institution (in this case, Institut Polytechnique de Paris) and the program to which you have been admitted. You must then submit the required documents, which will be checked by Campus France before you can submit your visa application to the consular authorities.
  To check that your country is one of the 67 countries covered by the "Études en France" procedure , go to this link.
• For all other countries not covered by the Études en France procedure, you must apply for your visa directly through the French embassy or consulate in your country of residence. You can find all the information you need on this website and the contact details for the embassy or consulate here.

Visa long séjour (VSL) mention "passeport talent-chercheur"

The "passeport talent - chercheur" long-stay visa (VLS) allows holders of a Master's-level degree to stay in France to carry out research or to teach at university level under a hosting agreement.

The hosting agreement is an administrative document that specifies the nature and duration of the work entrusted to the researcher or doctoral student. It also specifies the resources, accommodation and medical cover available to the beneficiary.

The host institution must send the hosting agreement to the beneficiary. The researcher or doctoral student must then have it endorsed by the consular authorities in his or her country of residence when applying for a visa. This procedure applies if the researcher or doctoral student is employed to carry out research work or give courses, regardless of the nature of the employment contract: doctoral contract, industrial agreement for training through research (CIFRE) or other.

The VLS "passeport talent - chercheur" is reserved for doctoral students, researchers and teacher-researchers.

The spouses and minor children of holders of a VLS "passeport talent - chercheur" can benefit from the simplified "accompanying family" procedure and join France without having to go through the family reunification procedure.

Nationals of a country in the European Union, the European Economic Area, Switzerland or Romania do not need to obtain a reception agreement. The same applies to Algerian doctoral students, whose situation is governed by the Franco-Algerian agreements of 27 December 1968.

For stays of less than 12 months, you will need a visa valid as a residence permit, known as the VLS-TS "talent - researcher passport". This is valid for one year. Within three months of your arrival in France, you must validate your visa online here.

For stays of 12 months or more, you will initially be issued with a simple "talent-researcher passport" visa. This is valid for three months and does not constitute a residence permit. Within two months of arriving in France, you must go to the prefecture to apply for a multiannual residence permit with the words "passeport talent-chercheur" ("talent-researcher passport"). This is valid for the same period as the hosting agreement, up to a maximum of 4 years.

Research stay agreement

This agreement is signed between the host institution and the person being hosted.

It is designed to improve the reception of doctoral students with grants and to provide a framework accompanied by a reception agreement - Law on the reprogramming of research.

Your school contacts

If you need to apply for a residence permit, don't hesitate to ask your school representatives for advice on the subject.

Application for naturalisation

If you wish to apply for naturalisation, you must do so individually.
A letter of recommendation/support may be sent to you by your thesis supervisor.

Further information

Health assurance 

Please note that social security coverage is compulsory in France when you enroll in a higher education institution.

Except for:

• Students from one of the 27 European Union countries, Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway or Switzerland, who already have national health insurance coverage and possess a European Health Insurance Card. This card is free and will give you access to state-provided healthcare during your stay in France under the same conditions and at the same cost as nationals.
• Students from Quebec are exempt from the requirement to join the social security scheme upon presentation of the #SE401Q106 form.

You can join the French social security scheme upon your arrival in France on this website.

Foreign doctoral students not registered in France

When you arrive at the doctoral school, the human resources department of the school where your laboratory is located will make a declaration prior to employment (DPAE), which triggers your entitlement to health insurance.

This is done for you via an online portal.

At the same time, doctoral students must complete the CERFA 15763*01 form to send their personal details to the health insurance scheme.

You will be asked to provide the following documents

• A bank details form
• An address in France
• Passport and residence permit if outside the European Union
• A copy of the birth certificate with filiation in the original language and translated by a translator on the list of French courts (Cour d'appel, Cour de Cassation, Tribunal de Grande Instance) or an embassy or consulate in France.

In general, it takes approximately 3 to 6 months for the employee to obtain a provisional number.

Doctoral students with a CSC grant

The CSC grant does not include social security cover. To benefit from health insurance, you will need to fill in the CERFA 15763*01 form to open your rights.
This request can only be made by the doctoral student.

Our partner Science Accueil can also help you with accommodation, administrative formalities, etc.
The site is available in French or English.

We strongly recommend that you take out a health insurance policy

For better coverage of medical costs, you may supplement the basic French social security health insurance with a top-up health insurance policy known as a "mutuelle" in France. You are not obliged to take out top-up health insurance, but it is highly recommended. 

Examples of mutuelles/insurances for students :

• Heyme from €13/year
• Heyme from €17/year
• SMERRA offers its services from €16/year
• SMENO offers its services from €20/year

For IP Paris students, the Heyme mutual insurance company has a promotional code: 
code 3SUMMER15 valid until 31 July 2023 gives a 15% discount 
the code 91EP valid until 31 December 2023 gives a discount of 10%.

At Télécom Paris and Télécom SudParis, you can join the Harmonie Fonction Publique  mutual insurance company (which also has a provident scheme).
Doctoral students must be registered with the social security system (or at least have a provisional number).

Subscription to civil liability insurance is compulsory, however.

Civil liability is an insurance policy that covers civil law provisions. Civil liability insurance policies cover damage you may cause to others or to their property. It is compulsory for students enrolled in French higher education institutions to take out civil liability insurance for their studies (including work placements). It can be included in various insurance packages (bank insurance, home insurance, car insurance, mutual insurance).

The Institut Polytechnique de Paris is keen to help you as soon as you arrive on campus, and has contacted a number of French banks to offer you their banking services at negotiated prices.

More information

To welcome international students, IP Paris offers a welcome desk where you can find all the information you need for your arrival in France to pursue your studies with us.

Thanks to a shared diary (https://calendly.com/welcome-desk-ip-paris), you can make a 25-minute appointment to ask any questions you may have, and get useful contacts for administrative formalities (visa, home insurance, civil liability, opening a bank account or telephone line, etc.), as well as academic information wherever possible.

The welcome desk staff are English-speaking and are on duty at office 27.20.09 in building 27 of the Ecole Polytechnique.

Here are the opening hours from September to December 2024

Here are the opening hours from January to June 2025

GATE is a one-stop shop for international students and scientists coming to the Paris-Saclay region.

Thanks to GATE, you can carry out all the administrative formalities required to settle in and stay in France in a single location.

Four partners (the Sous-Préfecture de Palaiseau, the Association Science Accueil, the Université Paris-Saclay and the Institut Polytechnique de Paris) have joined forces to facilitate administrative procedures for international students and scientists arriving in Paris-Saclay. 

The GATE, Guichet d'Accueil des Talents Étrangers, is set up each year near the IP Paris campus in Palaiseau: for 2024-25, it will be located in the Université Paris Saclay library in Orsay (Bât 407 rue du Doyen Georges Poitou 91400 Orsay).

The welcome desk is open for a period of 4 months (from the end of August to December each year), and brings together in one place all the services international students need when coming to France: the CPAM (health insurance), the CAF (housing and family allowances), the CROUS (housing and scholarships), France Travail (professional careers), the RATP (transport), Campus France (student mobility), the CPS (agglomeration community) and many others. 

The ephemeral welcome desk will be open on site at the Orsay university library from August to December 2024:

For more information, please visit https://gate.paris-saclay.fr/

The International Center for French Language and Culture at Institut Polytechnique de Paris aims to promote excellence for all international students arriving on our campus, in all aspects of their experience of French and Francophone language and culture.

More information

International students have the possibility to attend French lessons.

Libraries belonging to the Institut Polytechnique de Paris network offer students and staff free and unrestricted access to their spaces and their documentary collections.

All the member libraries of the Institut Polytechnique de Paris and their terms and conditions of access are listed below.

• école Polytechnique 
• ENSAE Paris
• ENSTA Paris 
• Télécom Paris
• Télécom SudParis (Evry) 
• HEC Paris (Jouy-en-Josas)

More information

Several dining options are available around the campus, whether you have a big appetite or just want a snack. 

The Paris Saclay website lists some popular local and responsible dining choices.

More information

The contribution to student and campus life (CVEC), collected by the Centres régionaux des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (CROUS - regional student support centers), was created in 2018 with the aim of improving the quality of student and campus life at higher education institutions. The €103 fee is for students enrolled in initial education programs at a French higher education institutions.

The CVEC funds collected by the CROUS are subsequently divided between higher education institutions and the CROUS to finance initiatives to improve student and campus life.
It helps to create, consolidate and improve various services at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, your school and the Versailles CROUS center.
This contribution is used to implement various types of student-oriented measures:

• Promoting student health by facilitating access to healthcare and redesigning prevention policies on campus.
• Promoting social support for students through one-off social assistance measures, logistical and financial support for student associations, etc. 
• Supporting student initiatives by financing projects run by student associations
• Promoting sporting practices on campus by offering more sports activities, extending opening hours and developing complementary activities to the range of sports activities such as wellness
• Creating dynamic artistic and cultural offerings at IP Paris in conjunction with the Versailles CROUS center by providing year-round access to concerts, exhibitions, cultural events and art workshops
• Improving student reception by developing on-campus support initiatives, facilities and installations to improve everyday life, citizenship initiatives, etc.

These actions, which can be financed by the CVEC, may be:

• Conducted by the student welfare and campus life departments in higher education institutions
• Coordinated by student associations.

Each academic year, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research defines a priority topic.
In recent years, prevention for student health has been the main theme, with different initiatives carried out in the health field:

• Prevention of student alcohol abuse
• Provision of support for mental health, sexual health and breaking nicotine addiction 
• Improvement of access to healthcare for students 
• First aid training.

The Institut Polytechnique de Paris has formed a committee to manage the use of the CVEC.
Members include the IP Paris Student Council.

IP Paris Health Center

The Institut Polytechnique de Paris, with the help of its five member schools, has set up a student health service on campus that is being developed with your help and for all students on campus.

Located in the heart of the campus (Pavillon Broca), the IP Paris health centre is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 8.30pm.

You'll find a number of health professionals on hand to welcome you.

• A general practitioner 
• A team of physiotherapists on campus to welcome you
• A midwife for gynaecology and contraception
• A nurse
• A relaxation therapist
• An addictologist

To make an appointment, each of these professionals has set up their own booking system. Please visit the page dedicated to the health center to find out more.

The health center team is at your disposal to help you study and work under the best possible physical, mental and social conditions.

More information

Psychological support

Two on-campus psychologists are available to provide masters and PhDtrack students with an attentive and sympathetic ear.

Consultations can be conducted remotely or face-to-face.

Each of these practitioners will be happy to welcome you in their offices to help you, so don't hesitate to contact them:

Help and health professionals off campus

Appointments can also be made with different professionals based near the campus.

More information

IP Paris facilitates and encourages sport.
It not only helps develop physical qualities, but promotes team spirit, perseverance, and self-improvement as well.

Numerous indoor and outdoor facilities are available for you to practice a wide variety of sports: tennis, horse riding, football, volleyball, dance, swimming and more.

More information

Indispensable to the smooth running of community life, the associative, artistic and sporting commitments of students from the five member schools breathe life into the Institut Polytechnique de Paris campus every day. 

More information

Each student receives a student card for the academic year. It allows you to:

• Access all buildings on the Palaiseau campus,
• Pay for meals at the university restaurant using your Izly account

You can collect your card from your Program School - school in which you are pursing your doctorate.

Télécom SudParis also provides doctoral students with a badge.
The "shuttle" badge provided by Télécom SudParis is only useful for the free shuttle service between Paris Porte d'Orléans and Palaiseau.

The Télécom Paris student card gives access to meals in university restaurants (CROUS) and to the advantages linked to the ISIC card.

If you have any questions, please contact our teams

contact us

At the start of the academic year, every student is given an IT account for the school where your laboratory is located. This will enable you to access all the services.

If you encounter any difficulties, please contact the help desk at your teaching school:

For Télécom Paris, Florence Besnard is your contact for IT account management and extensions.

Your doctoral contract

To obtain your doctoral contract, your contacts are the laboratory HR officer and/or the school HR officer.

To take leave, you need to contact your thesis supervisor and use the dedicated application:

Your complémentary activities

You have the option of carrying out additional activities, which must not exceed 64 hours TP/TD equivalent per academic year.

For more information on this subject, please contact your school and the management of your laboratory:

Your mission orders

Your mission orders must be approved by your laboratory or department.

Taxes

Since 1 January 2019, tax has been deducted at source.

For the first salaries you receive as part of your doctorate, the rate applied will be the neutral rate unless there are personal constraints to be applied by the Administration.
This rate will be readjusted when you file your tax return in N+1 or during the year if you ask the tax authorities to do so.

Your doctoral training

In addition to personalised training through research, which is acquired through the practice of research within the research unit, doctoral training also includes participation in group training courses designed to: 

• Enhancing the scientific culture of doctoral students, particularly in their scientific field;
• Preparing doctoral students to enter the world of work or pursue a career in both the public and private sectors;
• Promote international exposure.

There are three types of training: scientific, linguistic and cross-disciplinary, the latter including ethics and scientific integrity, which is one of the training requirements for all doctoral students, in accordance with the Order of 25 May 2016 on doctoral studies.
Each doctoral student will be required to take a minimum of 100 hours of training over the course of their thesis.

In addition, an English language test must be provided or will be carried out on entry to the doctoral programme, and doctoral students who do not have the required level will be required to take English courses until this level is achieved (counted for a maximum of 20 hours).

The minimum 100 hours are broken down as follows: 

• 40 to 60 hours of scientific training, including 20 hours of exposure (outside the thesis subject) 
• 40 to 60 hours of cross-disciplinary training, including training in ethics and scientific integrity 
• 0 to 20 h of language training

These courses should help doctoral students to be more effective in their doctoral project and to prepare for their future career.

Training courses should be chosen with these two objectives in mind and may be based on the advice of the thesis supervisor.

The 100-hour training requirement may be reduced in the following cases: 

• Cotutelle: the requirement will be reduced by half, but the doctoral student will be encouraged to complete the remaining half at the foreign host university whenever possible. 
• Thesis under a CIFRE agreement or taking place to a significant extent in a company environment: no cross-disciplinary training requirement, but 60 hours to be done either entirely in scientific training, or a minimum of 40 hours in scientific training and a maximum of 20 hours in language training.
• Involvement in associations: demonstrated involvement in doctors' associations or other associations of general interest will be recognised by reducing the cross-disciplinary training requirements by 5 hours per year of involvement. 
• Monitorat: reduction of 10 hours per block of 64 hours of teaching (or pro rata), limited to 30 hours in total.

Cross-disciplinary and language training courses will be described and announced in the form of a catalogue on ADUM.

Registration will also be via ADUM.

Non-catalogue courses, particularly scientific courses (thematic schools, master's modules, conference or seminar series, etc.), are not automatically validated but may be obtained by prior request to the domain manager. Attendance will be taken into account subject to the doctoral student providing a certificate of attendance, which can be downloaded from ADUM.

Mini-soutenance

A "mini-soutenance" is organised halfway through the thesis (i.e. 18 months after registration for a nominal duration of 36 months).

The Monitoring Committee's report must be provided prior to registration in the second year if the first registration took place prior to 1st March of calendar year N-1 (nominal duration of 36 months), and in all cases prior to registration in the third year if this report was not provided for registration in the second year.

The mini-supervision is organised under the responsibility and at the initiative of the thesis director.

The procedures are as follows: 

• The doctoral student must submit, two weeks before the mini-defence, a manuscript (maximum 15 pages all included) introducing the subject, the work carried out and the results obtained, as well as the prospects for progress up to the defence (maximum 12 pages), and a list of all communications and publications, if any, as well as a CV; 
• Two weeks before the mini-soutenance, the doctoral student must submit his/her career plan and any training courses taken and planned, together with the committee report form pre-filled with the following information; 
• Presentation (20-25' followed by questions and answers) to the two external members of the monitoring committee, one of whom is appointed chairman, followed separately by an interview by these members with the thesis director alone and an interview by these members with the doctoral student alone; 
• The two external members of the monitoring committee submit a consensus report to the head of the field, signed by the chair. This report will then be sent by the ED to the doctoral student and the thesis director, who may comment on it.

Each school has advisors for disability-related issues.
If you have any questions or need information, feel free to contact the advisor at your school.

If you don’t know whom to contact, please write to the generic adress.

As a key player in society, gender equality is an important issue in the higher education and research sector. Like all higher education and research institutions, we are aware that we are not immune to discrimination or harassment, which may concern both staff and students.

Each of the Institute's member schools has signed the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles' Gender Equality Charter. The Charter text affirms that the equality of women and men is a fundamental right for all, and a core value for democracy.
It pledges actions in three main areas:

• Implementing gender equality
• Raising students' awareness of gender equality and gender issues
• Developing a policy of upstream attractiveness, particularly for students. 

The efforts to tackle gender inequality are beginning to pay off, and the Institute intends to commit proactively and permanently to this approach.
To this end, each school has appointed gender equality officers responsible for the action plan on gender equality and the prevention of gender-based and sexual violence. These officers have also established a number of bodies to serve you on campus and at our member schools.

In addition to the appointment of gender equality officers, the following initiatives have also been put in place to help victims speak out and receive support:

• Awareness-raising measures for each student,
• A reporting platform available soon 24/7, enabling the hotline to handle  all reports of sexual and gender-based violence, harassment (moral or sexual) and all forms of discrimination,
• A hotline for all forms of gender-based and sexual violence

If you have any doubts about whom to contact, please write to our dedicated IP Paris e-mail adress or to your Student Life Manager

Institut Polytechnique de Paris is a diverse and open-minded institute, which must be uncompromising when it comes to upholding respect for the values of inclusion of all orientations, respect for individuals and human dignity.

For any questions other than those on academic issues or needs, please contact Delphine Duprat - Student Life Manager at IP Paris.

Feel free to contact her if you are having any problems or difficulties, or if you have questions about campus life (which are not answered in this booklet).
She will do everything in her power to help you enjoy a full and rewarding student life.

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