FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd gave a boost to educational co-operation between France and Australia as part of his visit to Europe last week, speaking of "a new chapter of educational achievement" and inaugurating an Australia Day education conference together with his French counterpart, Alain Juppe, in Paris last Thursday.

In his address, Mr Rudd acknowledged the contributions that France had made to the sciences, mathematics and philosophy, and announced a new partnership between the Australian National University and Sciences-Po, a specialist university for political sciences in Paris, as well as an alumni network for French students who had studied in Australia.

Campus France, the French government agency promoting education abroad, also announced plans to open its first office in Australia later this year.

Mathilde Mallet, the Campus France co-ordinator for Asia, said the office would facilitate the process for Australian students wanting to study in France.

"Our people inform students, help them to find a good university, find a course that corresponds to their expectations, obtain their visas and housing; it's a personalised accompaniment," she said. "I hope there will be an effect on the numbers."

Although French is the third most popular language studied in the final year of high school, and France the sixth most popular study destination for Australian students, there were just under 300 Australian students enrolled in French public universities in 2009, less than a tenth of those studying in the US (3150), and behind New Zealand (2943), Britain (1647), Germany (347) and Japan (326).

"There is a lack of information among Australian students. The problem isn't that Australian students don't like France; it's because they don't know about it. The French option isn't very well known in Australia," Ms Mallet said.

On the French side, there has been an enormous surge in interest in Australia over the past decade. According to UNESCO, the number of French students enrolled at Australian universities doubled from 610 to 1209 between 2002 and 2009. Counting students at secondary schools, technical colleges and language courses brings this figure up to almost 5000.

However, this is still a small fraction of the 226,514 student visa holders at Australian universities.

One possible reason is Australia's relatively high tuition fees for foreign students; while French students pay a few hundred euros per year to study at public universities in France, they would have to pay up to $35,000 per year to study in Australia.

"For the French students attending state universities like the Sorbonne, their education is paid for by the state, so Australia or any country offering fees (like Britain, US or Canada) would seem quite expensive," said Nicholas Baker, trade commissioner for Austrade in Paris.

"In terms of who we're targeting, they are students who do pay fees; you have the 'grandes ecoles' (elite French graduate schools) and business schools, and they do charge fees."

He added that many French students would be interested in taking short-term English courses, especially on the working holiday visa program, which was concluded in 2003.

"About 18,000 French (citizens) took out a working holiday visa last year, and for French students who want to improve their English there is the possibility of a short course they can do, just to refresh their English," Mr Baker said.

He also added that targeting European students, who represent about 8 per cent of international students, would diversify Australia's international student population, which mainly comes from Asian countries.