Mr. Vignaud to Mr. Olney.
Paris , July 24, 1896 . (Received Aug. 3.)
Sir: American medical students who come to Paris with the view of graduating in one of the medical schools of France were heretofore allowed certain facilities to enter these schools. When they were graduates of our well-known colleges, or held a diploma of doctor of medicine issued by a reputable foreign scientific institution, they were permitted, upon application being made through this embassy, to follow the regular courses of the French medical schools, exactly like French students who had graduated from the French faculties, and at the end of the course in the fall—if successful in the final examination—were awarded the same diploma as those to Frenchmen, which diploma carried with it the privilege of practicing in France.
The number of foreign students in France having by degrees considerably increased in numbers, and the proportion of those who, for a certain time at least, remain here to practice their profession having [Page 141] also become much larger, the French Government has adopted a stricter rule for the admission of foreigners to the French medical schools.
In the future foreigners desirous of obtaining the same diploma of doctor of medicine as that awarded to Frenchmen will have to submit to the same conditions imposed upon French students; that is to say, that the diploma they may have obtained abroad or in any private institution will not be at all considered, and that before being allowed to register at any of the French medical schools they will have to produce, like French students, a French State diploma of “Bachelier de l’Enseignement classique,” and the “Cértificat de Sciences physiques, chimiques et naturelles.”
To the foreign students who do not propose to practice medicine in France the facilities usually extended to them will be continued and even enlarged. But they will only be entitled to a special diploma solely intended for foreigners of that class, and granting no rights to practice in France.
These regulations were issued on the 21st instant. They are not applicable to foreign students already registered.
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