Funding my way through Pastry School in France
- sana65kabra
- Sep 18, 2023
- 5 min read
While it may sound daunting to spend lakhs of rupees to study how to make Pastry in France, especially with amazing and cheaper options now available in India, I’d like to share the few ways in which I acquired some financial aid to help with a long 3-year course in France.
The first step was to look for all the available scholarships for ‘culinary and pastry arts’ online. My search resulted in 2 options, the James beard Foundation scholarship, which is a really competitive and requiring very specific conditions to qualify you to apply. One of the important things about this scholarship is to ensure that your institution is listed as an option on the application form. As of 2020, Ecole Ducasse is part of the scholarship, offering up to 5000 euros for any of the courses at the school in Meudon and Yssingeaux. This is not to say you cannot apply if your institution is not listed, you can however the number of applicants is large, making the chances of being successful low. I have applied to this three times but been unsuccessful each time. I know of one person who managed to get this scholarship (she received 4 scholarships in total, one of which was for a course at Ecole Ducasse), and you can read her blog on the same here. https://purplefoodie.com/tag/james-beard-scholarship/. If you read the blog further you will find information about The Culinary Trust scholarship however this has been discontinued.
My second find, were two scholarships from Campus France in India. Hence, the scholarships are very specific – only applicable if you are applying to study in France, from India. The first scholarship is the Amba Dalmia Scholarship – this is specifically for women. It is designed for Indian women aspiring to pursue higher studies in Music, Theatre, Sports, Arts, Sculpture, Cinema, Ballet, Opera, Painting, Photography and Oenology in France. I applied in the ‘arts’ category, for Pastry Arts. The process involved writing 3 essays and submitting some documents related to previous studies and experience as well as recommendation letters. After the shortlisting, there was an interview with a panel of 5 people and then the results are announced on their website.
I received this scholarship for my 1st year of a three-year bachelor degree in Pastry Arts at ENSP, an Ecole Ducasse school, in 2018-19. I was given 700 Euros per month, for a period of 10 months, to cover my living expenses during my course. While staying in Yssingeaux, a small town where my school is located, this was a considerable amount which helped cover my rent and food expenses easily. However, since my course requires me to do an internship for 5 months in a year, I spent 5 months in Paris, where living expenses are much higher.
It is a yearly scholarship and requires you to re-apply for every year of your course. In the year 2019-20, I re-applied for this scholarship, however it was given to another student, for a Pastry course at Ecole Ferrières - Hôtellerie Gastronomie Luxe. It was given to students in the pastry category twice, hence I think it would be very relevant if you would like to apply for culinary or pastry arts in France.
In 2020-21, I applied for the Bahman Samandari scholarship. This is a Scholarship designed for an Indian student or professional aspiring to pursue higher studies in Culinary Studies in France. There is no restriction on the gender and it is more specific, aiming only at Culinary and Pastry students. The founder of the scholarship is Mr. Kazem Sahmandari, the founder of L’opera, an extremely successful chain of patisseries/tea rooms, currently across Delhi with plans to expand to across India (Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Kolkatta) in the near future.
The questions required to be answered for this scholarship were the same as the Amba Dalmia Scholarship. The application was also to be made on the same platform and the team that made the selection seemed to be the same as well. I was selected for this scholarship for pursuing the third year of the Bachelor’s degree, with similar terms. It consisted of 750 Euros per month for living expenses, however this time I received the amount in INR in my Indian bank account, amounting to INR 60,000 per month.
So, what were the questions asked?
1) Explain how this program/project would add value in your further studies or in launching your career
and how you intend to use your newly acquired understanding/experience
2) Explain how/why you chose France to undertake the project or the French Institution to which you have applied/been admitted
3) Explain why you would be a worthy candidate for this scholarship
My advice would be to stay genuine, not write anything you cannot back-up and stay true to who you are. If you are really passionate, it will come through in what you write. Take some time to write your first draft and then give it a break. After taking some time away, re-look at your essays and you will have new insights. After you are quite satisfied with your main reasons in each answer, get some outsider’s opinions before you send your final application.
In addition to the aid from the scholarship, there was an additional benefit of being a recipient of a scholarship in France, as you get options for student accommodation. Campus France helps you find accommodation through a government organization called Le Crous. They have various student accommodation options in every big city. I got an accommodation in the 5th arrondissement in Paris, a central location while I had my internship there, at a price of 560 euros per month. In addition to this, i got around 150 euros from the government, which was paid directly to my accommodation, through CAF. This made my stay considerably cheaper, as my friends living in not-so-central areas were paying up to 1200 euros per month as rent.
CAF can be received by any student, in any accommodation (government or not), as long as the accommodation is eligible for CAF. In order to get this, you need to have a social security (which you get by applying for Assurance Maladie – this is compulsory to do if you are enrolled for a long-term course in France). Once you get this, you can open an account of the caf.fr website and upload all your accommodation details, submit a few documents and you are eligible for 100-200 euros aid per month.
If you have a Campus France Scholarship, you also get information about the community of students and several events for students, including movie nights, trips to popular touristic sites in groups etc. I was also offered a reimbursement of my insurance expenses called ‘la mutuelle’ (which you take in addition to the social security), which was around 25 euros per month.
So even though studying abroad may seem expensive, it is possible to get several forms of help from the government of India as well as France to make the journey a little easier financially.
All of these scholarships can be applied for in the beginning of the year, around February to May, for courses beginning around August to September. Here are the links to the scholarships mentioned in this article:
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