"Partner@PSL": Become a mentor to new PSL international students!
Would you like to help, guide and advise a new PSL international student prior to their arrival to Paris? Register now for the PSL Buddy Program Partner@PSL !
It is not always easy to be completely relax when you are an international student who has just arrived in Paris: travelling from the airport to your new accommodation, locating your host institution, understanding the administrative formalities to be completed... sometimes it is like a fighter's course. Any student who has studied abroad can certainly attest to this feeling of a total lack of reference points and/or of the relief of having the support of a "local mentor"!
To facilitate the reception of international students, the PSL Welcome Desk is launching, for the second year in the row, its "Partner@PSL" mentoring program for the 2020 academic year. The principle is simple: to connect via a platform "Local Buddies" (PSL students) with "International Buddies" (international students first admitted to a PSL course) before their arrival in France in order to organize their welcome at the station or airport, guide them in their first steps in Paris, support them during their first days and afterwards if the buddies so wish...
Funded as part of the "Welcome to France" call for proposals launched by the Ministry of Research and Higher Education, Partner@PSL is a free service open to all PSL students and doctoral candidates.
Any student or doctoral student enrolled in a PSL institution for at least 1 year. A "local buddy" can be either French or of foreign nationality.
- Mission 1: Get in touch with the "International Buddy" as soon as they receive the details.
- Mission 2: Welcome their "International Buddy" as soon as they arrive in France (airport or station).
- Mission 3: Help their "International Buddy" to do some scouting in their future institution before the start of the academic year / show them around the PSL campus and take them to the PSL Welcome Desk.
- Mission 4: Show them the dining system of the CROUS.
- Mission 5: Show them the most popular places in Paris.
- Mission 6: All ideas are welcome
This will depend on the answers you provide in the Partner@PSL questionnaire! You will be put in touch with a student with whom you have something in common.
Please note that mentorship does not automatically match your institution or level of study (e. g. an international master's student at the Observatory may be mentored by a French doctoral student from the ENS). The key idea is to welcome the international student upon arrival in late August/early September.
In addition to the satisfaction of helping your "international buddy" and facilitating their installation in Paris, being a "Local Buddy" has many advantages, especially if...
- You like to meet people from all over the world;
- You want to practice another language;
- You have a passion and you want to share it with others;
- You are convinced that helping others is the key to your personal development
No, all "local buddies" are volunteers. However, do not hesitate to send your CV to the PSL Welcome Desk (welcomedesk@psl.eu) if you would like to join our team. We very often need reinforcement, especially at the beginning of the academic year.
You can fully participate in several mentoring programs.
Register on
Create an account and fill out the questionnaire. If your profile matches with one of the "international buddies" registered in the portal, you will both receive each other's contact details.