French university welcomes refugees anxious to learn a new way of life

About 80 migrants have traded France's "Jungle" tent camp for a chance to earn a university degree and a new life.

They were chosen last year for intensive French language lessons in the northern city of Lille - and a crash course in university life and the chance to study for a career.

More than 200 hopefuls who used to live in the huge camp near Calais, which once housed up to 10,000 people and was demolished in October, applied for the coveted slots at the University of Lille.

"I spent two months in the Jungle, and was only able to learn the alphabet," said Abdul-Raouf Hussein-Fadul, a 26-year-old Sudanese man in a baseball cap and white sneakers who now ranks first in his class.

"I hope that one day I'll be able to become an engineer in France, like I was in Sudan.

"It's not easy ... I'm going to have to work very hard."

The future students were recruited by university officials with the help of volunteer organizations at the camp.

When the Jungle was broken up, its thousands of residents were relocated to shelters throughout France. Initially there were fears of widespread resistance to the migrants, but that has not been the case.

Applicants for the university program had to already have been students in their home countries, have a course plan that was offered by the university - and give up their dreams of reaching the United Kingdom.

The lucky few were then split into four groups and put up in student housing. They are now taking 15 hours of language lessons each week.

For the university, the goal "is to get them speaking French well enough between now and June so that we can integrate them into the university curriculum in the autumn", said Hugues Perdriaud, one of their professors.

'Like any other students'

The students are also getting help outside the classroom, from a network of fellow students volunteering their time.

"We talk with them in French to help them progress, but we also go to the library, to museums, go shopping," said Solene, a 20-year-old pursuing a degree. "For us, they're just like any other students."

Most of the students already have be granted refugee status, and advisers are helping them chart a path toward careers that match their experiences - as well as the realities of the French labor market, said Emmanuelle Jourdan-Chartier, a history professor and one of the architects of the project.

"They are extremely motivated, very capable - they were very proud to get in to university and they genuinely want to integrate successfully," she said.