École Polytechnique awarded the label Qualité FLE (French as a foreign language)

École Polytechnique is one of the French centers that earned the three-star label Qualité FLE (Français Langue Étrangère, in English: French as a Foreign Language). The label was already awarded to the School in 2014 and again in 2018. The interministerial commission renewed its attribution to l’X in April 2023 for another period of four years.

The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and the French Ministry of Culture launched the label “Qualité FLE” in 2007 to ensure quality standards in teaching French as a foreign language. The certification identifies and recognizes learning centers whose French foreign language courses and services meet quality requirements. The label is awarded based on fulfilling the criteria in five different categories.

In each category, up to three stars attest to the respective quality of the learning center. École Polytechnique obtained the maximum score of three stars for all five categories: Training and Teaching, Teachers, Hosting and Support, Facilities, and Management.

The renewed attribution of the three-star “Qualité FLE” label confirms the excellence of École Polytechnique’s department specialized in teaching French as a Foreign Language.

Learning French and getting to know French culture

All international students and researchers at École Polytechnique can benefit from the classes offered by the School's "Français Langue Etrangère" department, dedicated to teaching French as a foreign language. The courses provided include French language, literature, and culture. The classes are also open to international students who join the School as part of an academic exchange program. Throughout the academic year 2022-2023, over 850 students took French language classes.

Since the launch of the EuroTeQ Engineering University, of which École Polytechnique is a founding member, the School has also opened some of its French language courses to students from the project's partner universities. This initiative involving EuroTeQ’s catalogue of shared courses has been very successful, as the courses are among the most popular ones of all.

Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris) founded the International Centre for French Language and Culture in 2022 to accompany the institute's increasing internationalization. Faculty and staff of École Polytechnique's "Français Langue Etrangère" department are fully involved in the center, which offers international students and researchers, and faculty members of IP Paris' member institutions a new platform to provide and discover the various activities focused on French language and culture within the different programs. Embracing new teaching methods, the center also offers formats beyond face-to-face classes, such as Moocs and other online course formats.