Alliance française


Alliance française is an international organization that aims to promote the French language and francophone culture around the world. Created in Paris on 21 July 1883 under the name Alliance française pour la propagation de la langue nationale dans les colonies et à l'étranger, known now simply as L'Alliance française, its primary goal is teaching French as a second language. Headquartered in Paris, the Alliance had 850 centers in 137 countries on every inhabited continent in 2014.

History and role

The Alliance was created in Paris on 21 July 1883 by a group including the scientist Louis Pasteur, the diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps, the writers Jules Verne and Ernest Renan, and the publisher Armand Colin. The project was directly linked to the colonial aims of the French Third Republic. France believed it could spread civilization to colonies and promote French imperial grandeur by propagating their language internationally.
The organization finances most of its activities from the fees it receives from its courses and from rental of its installations. The French government also provides a subsidy covering approximately five percent of its budget
More than 440,000 students learn French at one of the centres run by the Alliance, whose network of schools includes:
  • a centre in Paris, Alliance française Paris Île-de-France
  • locations throughout France for foreign students and
  • 1,016 locations in 135 countries.
The organizations outside Paris are local, independently run franchises. Each has a committee and a president. The Alliance française brand is owned by the Paris centre. In many countries, the Alliance française of Paris is represented by a Délégué général. The French Government also runs 150 separate French Cultural Institutes that exist to promote French language and culture.
The Alliances organize social and cultural events, such as art exhibitions, movie festivals, social gatherings, book clubs.

By country

[France]

  • Fondation Alliance française

[Paris]

  • Alliance française Paris Île-de-France
The Alliance française Paris Ile-de-France is a Higher Private Education Institute. Located in the centre of the capital, the Alliance française Paris Île-de-France receives more than 11,000 students from 160 countries arrive every year. It is the oldest one since the school has offered courses in Paris since 1894.
Until 2007, the year of creation of the Alliance française Foundation, the Alliance française Paris Île-de-France was called "the Paris Alliance française".
It was divided into three branches: the International Relations, the School of Paris, and the Department of Human and Financial Resources. In 2007, the DRI has become the Alliance française Foundation, while the School and the DRHF became the Alliance française Paris Île-de-France.
Three conventions are now governing the relations between the Foundation and the Alliance française Paris Île-de-France:
  • a financial agreement: the Alliance française Paris Ile-de-France supports the Foundation financially.
  • an agreement for the premises: the Paris Alliance française donated its building in Boulevard Raspail to the Foundation at the time of the division in 2007
  • a teaching agreement: the Alliance française Paris Ile-de-France supports the Alliances françaises worldwide in their projects to professionalize their teaching and administrative staff. More than 40 missions per year are made abroad.

[Montpellier]

Alliance française Montpellier is a French language school in the south of France, a private higher education institution providing French courses for foreigners and a non-profit association, established in accordance with the statutes and objectives of the Alliance française Foundation. This study centre is part of the network of Alliances françaises de France.

[Africa]

[Americas]

[Asia] and [Oceania]

[Europe]

  • Albania has five Alliance française organization located in Durrës, Elbasan, Korça, Shkodra and Tirana.
  • Armenia has one Alliance française organization located in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
  • Belgium has one Alliance française organization located in the capital Brussels.
  • Croatia has five Alliances françaises organizations located in Dubrovnik, Osijek, Rijeka, Split, and Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.
  • Hungary has five Alliances françaises organizations located in Debrecen, Győr, Miskolc, Pécs and Szeged.
  • Iceland has one Alliance française organization located in Reykjavik.
  • Ireland has six Alliances françaises organizations. Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is home to the third largest Alliance in Europe. There is also a location in Cork, Ireland's second city. Other locations in Ireland include Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford, which also has a branch in Wexford. Alliance française de Cork also organises the Cork French Film Festival.
  • Italy has thirty-seven Alliances françaises organizations located throughout the country.
  • Malta has one Alliance francaise organization located in Floriana.
  • Moldova has one Alliance française organization located in Chişinău, the capital of Moldova.
  • Monaco has one Alliance française organization located in the Principality, at the Embassy of France in Monaco.
  • Romania has four Alliances françaises organizations located in Braşov, Constanţa, Piteşti and Ploieşti.
  • Russia has thirteen offices - in Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov, Tolyatti, Vladivostok, Ufa, and Ulyanovsk.
  • Spain has twenty Alliances françaises organizations located all over the country, promoted by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in Spain.
  • Sweden has 17 Alliances françaises organizations throughout the country. The oldest Swedish organization was established in 1889 in Stockholm.
  • Turkey has two Alliance française organizations located in Adana and Bursa.
  • The United Kingdom has eleven Alliances françaises organizations. The first Alliance française organization in the UK was located in London, which traces its roots back to 1884. Other locations in the British Isles include Bristol-Bath, Cambridge, Exeter, Glasgow, Jersey, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Newcastle-upon-tyne, Oxford and York. During WWII, the London location served as the international headquarters of Alliance française when the Paris location was closed.
The Netherlands counts 32 Alliances Françaises, the main one being located in The Hague, followed by 3 major other one in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht. This network is very dynamic and powerful.