Researchers' stories

Bilal, Pakistan

Miss Oriane Mousset is very kind, helping and always available to listen and resolve our problems. I joined University of Tours as Le Studium research fellow on January 09, 2018. However, my kids joined their French school on January 10, 2018 without wasting a single day due to her concern.. In the early days of our arrival, my wife was pregnant and she was in dire need of medical attention, which was made possible by personal involvement of Oriane with the hospital and social security. I was amazed to see the name of my son “Saim Ahmed” in a local newspaper, which was published only due to her interest. Her timely assistance not only gives us peace of mind but a very positive image of her helping nature. I understand the commitments of office workers in France, but whenever we need any assistance, we contact Oriane without any hesitation.

 

Osbaldo, Mexico

It is a pleasure to write this testimony about my experience with the Euraxess Service Centre of the University of Tours, since before I arrived in France, on my arrival and to this day, mainly for all the kind attention and support by Ms. Oriane Mousset and Mr. Germain Rousseau. As a young researcher, I decided to come to France particularly to the University of Tours motivated for two main reasons, the quality of the research and the research topic. I start my career plan, but it is worth noting that the help and advice from Ms. Mousset and Mr. Rousseau were essential to make the preparations easy for
my arrival in France and in the City of Tours, they helped me a lot with extensive explanations about immigration procedures to get the right visa, they sent me twice the Convention d’accueil by postal mail, they gave me valuable information about transportation in France‐Tours as well as relevant information of the City of Tours from the historical, scientific and gastronomic point of view.
When I arrived in the city, Oriane and Germain helped me to find an apartment, to open a bank account, with information about health insurance, government taxes and many other things. This got my adaptation to the city and to the new life very easy. They also encourage the study of French language by sharing information from the Language School, as well as cultural information of the City of Tours.
Of course all this support makes me feel happy and motivates me to work in the scientific field but also invites me to enrich myself of French culture and history.
Many thanks guys!

Rosemary, Lebanon

I had an ATER job at university of Tours (research and teaching assistant) but due to lack of information I didn’t know that I had to change my residence student permit into a scientific permit.
Euraxess Service Center took care of this situation and helped me to change my student permit to work as soon as they knew about my situation. They also helped me with another problem that I faced with “prefecture of Blois” and they provided me with the needed supporting documents in order to guarantee that I can get the scientific residence permit.
I also requested the service to provide me information about the possibility to launch a startup with a scientific residence and an ATER contract. They answered me quickly & they explained my rights as a foreigner in France. There are other situations where Euraxess helped me, I couldn’t get papers I needed from other university services and again they handled the whole situation.
Finally, The team is fully dedicated and sometimes they go beyond their duties. I’m grateful we have such a professional service that can help foreign students in administrative documents. We really need more people like them in our work & our daily life!! It’s so amazing when we help each other, after all, we can’t live alone.
 

Dacam, Vietnam

From April 2015 to June 2015, I first arrived in France for my Master report of three months and after that, I began my PhD contract with the university of Tours in France in November, 2015. It was my first time abroad.
Just after my arrival, my advisor brought me to the Euraxess Service Centre and there I met Mr. Germain Rousseau for the first time. As a stranger, I had a lot of administrative duties to begin with, such as :
- Visa:, which papers to send to obtain the VISA, when, where and how?
Germain helped me a lot since I didn't speak French at all. He helped me prepare the necessary documents and reminded me of the date to go and get my VISA. Since the first VISA was OFII stamps, I had to renew it after one year. helped me to renew it as well.
- Bank and House insurance : He went with me directly to the house insurance company and to the bank to create contracts for my room in CROUS residence.
- CROUS : He helped me to demand to CROUS and I could move to CROUS residence in December, 2015, which helped me a lot in my study since it is closer to the laboratory where I work and the price was cheaper so I could have a better student life with the money I saved.
- Residence Permit : after three years working in France, my residence permit ran out of date and I went to see Germain to receive his advises to better prepare my future, to learn for about the possibilities to find a job, to maximize the chance to find a job, necessary information about the unemployment...
In conclusion, Euraxess Service Center helped me a lot. Without them I can't imagine how hard it could be for me. Overall, Germain is always very friendly and kind and polite to me. More important, he is very effective with administrative work! And he is always smiley which is very important!
I'm honestly delighted that my university has such a good Service!

Please contact : mobilitycentre@univ-tours.fr