Frequently Asked Questions

Ferrières offers programmes in both French and English.

• The Bachelor of Arts (BA) programme is in French (courses relating to the hotel industry (Reception and Housekeeping) are taught in English).
• The IBBA, MSc, and the PGE programmes are taught in English (with the exception of certain gastronomy courses and masterclasses which may be in French with an English interpreter.

Ferrières offers numerous majors which allow each student to tailor their academic path to match their professional goals:

• 6 “specialisation” majors in the BA programme
• 6 “professional environments” majors in the IBBA programme
• 4 “business” majors in the PGA programme
• 7 “leadership & innovation” majors in the 2nd year of the MSc programme

Yes, the school assists students with their search for work placements in their first year, offering guidance and advice on how to gain access to the different opportunities on offer, notably jobs advertised by our business partners or industry network.

The “Partnerships & Careers” centre is one of the tools we offer to help students find work placements and career opportunities.

We also provide resources to ensure that students are able to access a variety of study abroad placements in line with their professional goals for the BA, BE, IBBA, and PGE programmes which include a compulsory study abroad component.

During the first year, Ferrières provides internships to students who have not been subject to disciplinary action with our partner institutions During the following years we offer paid internships in hotels, restaurants, and with partner institutions in France and abroad.

While participation in the Career Summits organized twice a year by the school is compulsory so that students have the opportunity to meet the various partners present, students are under no obligation to accept any of the offers proposed and are free to look for internships outside the school’s partners as well.

Ferrières wishes to open its scholarship scheme to a large number of applicants and allow them to benefit from its higher education approach and learning environment thanks to the Ferrières Endowment Fund. It grants partial scholarships to deserving students. Obtaining a bursary is dependent on 3 criteria:

• Application files sent the earliest are the ones that are prioritized
• Consideration of application depends on the suitability for the course and the merit
• Social assistance criteria such as parents’ or guardians’ income

The objective of an initial interview is threefold:

• To gain a sense of the applicant’s personality
• -To understand and assess the applicant’s potential through their experience and ambitions
• -To measure the applicant’s professional and personal motivations

Yes, foreign students complete their internships in France, similarly to French students.

For the Bachelor’s degree and the Ateliers Ferrières programmes, no professional experience is required. For the MSc programme, the candidate must have previously completed an internship in the hospitality field for a minimum of 6 months and passed the “0 semester”.

It is possible to be accepted to the Bachelor’s programmes as a holder of a technical or vocational certificate, provided the applicant meets the specific selection criteria applied in this case.

Yes. Refresher courses  and the Summer School programme are available for students who do not have relevant backgrounds before the start of the MSc year.

Via our Student Service we support students in finding suitable living arrangements in the vicinity of the campus subject to housing availability. It is important that candidates start looking for accommodation as soon as they enrol, as there is a high demand for accommodation near the school.

Yes, the BA, BE, IBBA and PGE programmes include a mandatory study abroad placement. Ferrières offers a variety of different study abroad options, both with and without additional fees, in order to allow students to tailor their study abroad experience to their professional goals.

Yes, some of the study abroad placements at our partner institutions require a supplementary fee, in addition to the tuition fee.

Yes, it is preferable to have a professional vocational certificate or a CAP technical qualification.

The pamphlet of policies and regulations will be given to you before the start of the year to be read and signed (if you finance the studies of your child). You can also consult it online at any time on “Student Room” (360) in the “About” section for your child’s class (example: F-B1-Student Group 2022 2023).
Si vous avez déjà un équivalent en anglais sur le portail pour “à propos”, il faut vérifier que la traduction correspond.

Schoolbox (Aimaira) is the administrative portal for Ferrières. You can find all of the student’s personal information there. This information should be updated regularly by the student ( address, phone, PO box, contact details of guardians, etc.).

There can only be one “administrator” per profile, this is why only one ID is generated, it is sent to the student along with the appropriate link.

The ID is the email entered by the student when he initially logs in to the portal (generally when registering for the chosen programme or when first applying to the school).

A temporary password is sent to the student along with an invitation  to create a new personalised password.

We advise our students to share this ID and password with their parents/guardians, and we recommend that parents who finance their child’s studies ask their child to communicate their login information to them.

You may consult the timetable on “Schoolbox” (Aimaira) in the “My Schedule” section accessible via the black panel on the left side of the screen.

Grades are available on “Schoolbox” (Aimaira) in the section “My courses accessible via the black panel on the left side of the screen. Click on “My documents” within the same black panel to download the grade and credit bulletins issued at the end of each term.

Attendance of classes and of assessment sessions is mandatory. All absences are considered unjustified unless a note from a medical professional is provided.

Certain cases of “force majeure” will not be considered as unjustified absences provided the Director of the school or the Director of the student’s programme are notified.

However, the increase in the number of requests for authorised absences as a result of our students’ diverse situations compels us to remind students of the necessity of attending courses. It is important to note that our academic partners impose common procedures for managing students’ absences, credit-earning, and financing of studies. We understand the importance of family reunions and private occasions but repetitive unjustified absences should not conflict with the final outcome of the diploma, the pedagogical and disciplinary measures set out in the internal rules & regulations of our institution.

Our undergraduate programmes (3- to 4- year higher education programmes) and the PGE programme include a compulsory study abroad programme. It offers the perfect occasion for our students to experience the benefits and  constraints of a multicultural environment and to gain autonomy.

This study abroad experience can take 4 different forms, with or without an additional fee:

• Academic option: The BA, IBBA, and PGE programmes include a compulsory study abroad experience at the Ferrières Campus in Barcelona. Students spend an autumn semester attending a programme of courses designed to complement the courses taught at Ferrières Paris.

At the end of this semester and depending on their course of study, three other complementary study abroad programmes are offered:

• Academic: Students study abroad at one of our partner universities, currently the SKEMA business school, in China, or Oxford Brookes University and Bournemouth University, in the United Kingdom.

Kindly note that the British government requires an English proficiency level equivalent to a score of 6.0 on the IELTS and that there are only 15 spots available for the SKEMA study abroad programme. Depending on the chosen institution, some optional courses may be offered at the student’s expense. Following this semester, students can carry out their internship either abroad or in France (3 to 4 months).

An outline of the student exchange options is distributed to the students each year in September along with any additional charges that might be incurred, depending on the chosen option. Testimonials from students who share their experiences are also available.

• Linguistic: For students who don’t yet have a good enough level to attend classes in English, we offer a 9 to 10 week intensive English immersion course at a partner school (in Bournemouth, Dublin, or London) at no extra cost.
• Work experience: This may be either a job (under an internship agreement or fixed-term contract) which must be abroad (6 to 9 months), or a charitable or humanitarian mission supervised by an association.

At the end of this programme a project reflecting on the student’s time abroad must be submitted (a report in video format on what the student has gained from the experience).

Travel and accommodation costs are, of course, at the student’s expense: this is the case for all schools offering study abroad programmes.

To give an example of accommodation costs: in 2019, accommodation on the SKEMA campus (in line with western standards) cost €270/month + €35 for water and electricity. For the same year, accommodation with a host family in the UK on a half-board basis (room + breakfast + dinner) cost €1,500 for 10 weeks.

Our International Mobility Manager communicates about study abroad options from the beginning of the school year in September and organises other preparatory meetings according to the chosen modalities.

Redondance entre “option académique” et “académique” qui est un de trois options ci-dessous.

No, of course not. We do not, however, oppose internships suggested by students or their family provided they are in accordance with the provisions of the internship agreement (in conformity with law n°2014-788 of 10 July 2014).

In their first year, students receive comprehensive training in preparation for their first internship outside the ecosystem as part of the employability support programme, including:

• Individual skills assessments
• Defining a career project (type of position and type of company)
• Preparing a CV and a personal statement
• Getting ready for interviews
• Getting ready for internships

We fully support and accompany our students but we cannot assure that they will be hired, given that the decision is up to the recruiter once the interview is conducted.However, we do promise our students “realistic”opportunities in year 1.

By “realistic” we mean that a first-year student might not immediately secure a managerial position. They must prove themselves beforehand and strengthen their managerial skills.

This is why the E.P.A. (Enhanced Professional Experience = Internship at the end of the first year after completing the Professionalization Acceleration Programme – P.A.P.) allows students to benefit from an internship supervised by professionals used to welcoming newcomers to the job market and to therefore have their first long-term work experience under the best conditions. The E.P.A. also offers students the possibility to explore two professional environments (hotels and restaurants) where the vast majority of companies only allow internships in a single department.

The “classic” scheme generally recommends that in the first year students should do their E.P.A. in a field which is different from the major they have chosen for their final year in order to expand their skill set and gain managerial credibility.

However, within the MSc programme, it is a little different. Students seeking managerial experience in their 2nd year should choose their internships according to their choice of major.

In the 2nd year of the BA programme and the 3rd year of the IBBA and PGE programmes, management-focused students should be bilingual in order to carry out an internship overseas, otherwise they will have to prioritise either the position itself or further language training.

Finally, in the 4th year of the IBBA and PGE programmes, the desire to take on a management position is legitimate. Students often get offered positions with levels of management inversely proportional to the scope of the enterprise. The student should prioritise the nature of the position itself: Is it better to be in a middle management position of an independent small-scale company or lower in the hierarchy in a larger organisation or a more prestigious hotel chain?

Any first year students who wish to do an internship at the end of the E.P.A. can look for an internship themselves, but must keep the school informed of their steps and have their letters validated by the school before they are sent (to protect their professional reputation as well as the school’s).

However, even after the E.P.A., we do not recommend a first year internship abroad, except for candidates who have already lived abroad and are bilingual.

In year 2 and 3, students undertake their search for internship on their own, this is considered a first step towards career job search and towards autonomy and self-confidence.

All placement opportunities advertised by our partners are published online. During the internships, Ferrières does not visit students (outside of very specific cases) but will contact the student once, and the recruiter 3 times to ensure that things are going smoothly.

Each internship is assessed by an examiner according to a detailed chart shared with the student. Following each internship, the student is required to write a detailed report, graded and assessed.

The P.A.P. (Professionalisation Acceleration Programme) allows students to experience “mini-internships” in real company conditions throughout their training, unlike the training hotels and restaurants used by traditional training establishments.

The PAP schedule is communicated in the week preceding the students’ visits.

 In the 1st year, all students get to perform rotations in all departments: reception, gastronomy, hospitality, regardless of what they plan to major in in their 3rd, 4th, and 5th years.

In the event of exceptionally slow or exceptionally busy periods, the schedule may be adjusted in order to maintain sufficiently challenging practical conditions for each student. This does not affect the practice of rotating each student through different departments, if a student is not able to experience a department, this will be made up for during a later period.

• In preparation for the realities of the profession, students must adapt to the working hours of the employees of these entities: P.A.P. days can start sometimes at 7:00 am and finish at 11:00 pm.

Starting in their 3rd year, students can choose P.A.P. assignments that correspond to their respective areas of interest, and have the flexibility to prioritise these missions over less-relevant ones.

P.A.P. is an integral part of the ongoing grading procedure, it is designed to recognize hard work and dedication.

The in-house part-time job opportunities are assigned according to the availability of students and upon their request. Students willing to get occasional in-house work assignments should add their names to our list. They will have priority over others.

We ensure that students are all treated in a fair way and benefit from an equal chance of performing general rotations in all departments, however negative assessments during P.A.P. might affect the frequency of proposals.

Similarly, excessive participation in part-time opportunities which affects the student’s academic results may lead the school to temporarily prohibit a student from participating in such activities in order to allow them to manage their studies more effectively.

A double degree (GEM, EBS, 89) or joint diploma (SKEMA) has three main advantages:

• Students benefit from the facilities (notably the digital library and physical library) and networks of the partner institutions
• It provides an opportunity to explore another subject area and gain new skills.
• Students benefit from a broader academic framework, which is especially for those who wish to direct their careers towards fields outside of those offered by Ferrières

In addition to the advantages cited above, these two partnerships allow our students to benefit from the reputations of some of the best business schools in France

GEM,SKEMA, and EBS programmes require that students attend courses at different sites, an opportunity for greater mobility.

Moreover, the rare privilege of being able to join a course registered with the CGE (Conférences des Grandes Écoles) greatly outweighs the minor inconvenience of additional travel time.

By joining Ferrières, your child has embarked on a course of higher professional education.

This implies that they must be capable of demonstrating autonomy and be worthy of the trust you place in them. We require our students to communicate as responsible professionals, and the management of administrative correspondence with the school and its partners is an element which we evaluate.

From a strictly legal point of view, students of legal age are solely responsible and accountable to the institution, even if their parents or an independent financial organisation provides for the financing of their studies.

Our agreements with other grandes écoles and universities also require us to respect the common practices of institutions which host international students.

Apart from communications relating to tuition, Ferrières, like all public or private higher education institutions, communicates only with the registered student. In addition to empowering the student, this is also a guarantee of the effectiveness and quality of our communication.

It would be inefficient and counterproductive to distribute the same information to 2 or 3 different contacts and potentially generate as many different responses. Moreover, the diversity of family structures specific to each student would quickly become a source of inequity.

Such a system would only lead to slower response times, impede the responsiveness needed to make good decisions and affect the smooth running of the institution.

If you are financing your child’s studies, we recommend that you obtain all necessary information from your child, and ensure that they transfer all emails and inform you of any letter they receive, be it academic or administrative. We also recommend asking your child for their login information to access the school portal where all relevant information is published:

School-Box (Aimaira):

The student’s administrative records (which should be updated each time the student’s situation changes)

Grades

Schedule

Programmes

Etc.

We will of course be happy to answer any query you might have at this address: reception@ferrieres-paris.com

Or this phone number:

01 81 16 77 77

We trust that you will understand the value of this organisation in preparing your child for a fulfilling professional future.

The “School Regulations” contract describes the procedure for dealing with any misconduct or poor academic practices. Students are the only ones to receive warnings and reminders of the rules, just as they are the only ones to receive letters convening disciplinary meetings and informing them of the decisions taken at the end of these meetings.

It is therefore the student’s responsibility to inform his family of any misconduct and to bear the consequences.

However, the FAP (Reliability Autonomy Professionalism) score is an “index” of overall behaviour; this score, awarded at the beginning of the year with 20 points, is reduced for each deviation by as many points as the seriousness of the offence requires.

“Netiquette” is a code of conduct to be applied when using the web, writing emails or participating in discussions on online forums. Here are some rules that should be followed:

• Consult your inbox daily and answer your emails promptly
• Every email should contain:
  • A subject line corresponding to the content of the mail;
  • A title (« Dear », « Sir », etc.) except when responding to an email
  • A message
  • A closing formula of a mail (« Sincerely yours », « Regards », etc.)
  • A signature even if the email signature is included
  • Avoid overusing the “Reply all” option;
  • Avoid overusing the “CCI” (invisible carbon copy) and “BCC” (blind carbon copy) options;
  • Avoid systematically copying in contacts as “witnesses”;
  • Rather than sending 18 separate attachments, compress them and do the same with large compressible files;
• Avoid sentences in capital letters which imply shouting;
• Write one email per request or subject: if you have several requests, write several emails;
• Keep your sentences short and syntactically correct so that they are easily understood;
• Do not send confidential information (passwords, access codes);
• When replying, quote only the relevant parts of the original email;
• Take a moment to ensure that you have not already received a reply before resending a query;
• Reply to requests for read receipts as a mark of respect for your correspondent;
• Do not click on Send too quickly. You may regret it…

Finally, before getting in touch with a contact, ensure that it is not a holiday and then ask yourself how urgent your request is: your request will be treated all the more kindly if it does not arrive at the wrong time.

Similarly, before reproaching your correspondent for their lack of responsiveness in replying, make sure that they have received your message: the email address is spelled correctly, the message has been sent correctly, etc.