The French health system is classified as "the best health system in the world" by the World Health Organization in June 2000. The system gives everyone access to health care and to the latest discoveries of medical research. All legal residents are covered by health insurance. For most of the French, medical treatment may be entirely free of charge or the costs 100% reimbursed if they have their complementary medical insurance. In France, solidarity operates between the sick and the well, as well as between the rich and the poor, through health insurance, which is a branch of Social Security, financed by contributions from wages and salaries and indirect taxes.

You will find all information needed if you visit these websites.

www.britishembassy.gov.uk
www.ambafrance-uk.org

Education
France has a centralized, republican tradition and has built her identity through a school system tasked with educating her future citizens : her education system is very largely the responsibility of the State. It is responsible for the recruitment, training and salaries of teachers, most of whom are civil servants trained at university-level schools of education.

However, for over ten years now, France has been engaged in a process of decentralization and regions have increased powers. In the education sphere, this has brought greater diversity and more flexible organization to what was a too uniform or even monolithic education system. There are15 million pupils and students who are in the education system. Just over 2 millions are in higher education. The school system is a unified one with a general structure composed of primary schools, colleges, lycées with a clear separation between primary education and secondary education. Secondary schooling is divided into 2 stages, known as cycles. From 11 to 15 years, children attend a collège, taking them from form 6 (sixième) to form 3 (troisième). In the French system, forms are numbered from 12 (first year of primary school) to 1, followed by terminale, with the collège beginning in form 6, approximately 11 years of age. After form 3, they move onto a general, technical or vocational lycée to be prepared for the corresponding baccalauréat examinations (usually taken at the age of 18), which is the symbolic national diploma both crowning the successful completion of secondary education and providing a passport for entry into higher education.

Schools managed under the aegis of the National Education Ministry are either public or private. The private sector educates around 15% of primary school and 20% of secondary school pupils. The bulk of private schools are Catholic schools with contracts with the State. Families of the fewer than 50,000 pupils in private schools without such contracts pay high fees.

France has also been developing State vocational education by "scholarizing apprenticeships", i.e. establishing vocational qualifications which can be attained at school: the CAP and the BEP (brevet d'enseignement professionnel, which sanctions the completion of adequate training within a range of technical skills required in a particular trade, industrial, commercial, administrative or social field). After ten years of compulsory education, the system must today ensure that everyone acquires not just academic, but also vocational skills, so that not even a small proportion of young people leave school clearly ill-equipped to face adulthood and working life.

For further information, visit the following website :
Click Here

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Employment
The first thing to do when you are in France and ready to start working is to go to the Agence Nationale pour l'Emploi (ANPE) which is the national organisation for employment. You can also visit its website here where you will find many job vacancies by reference to your background and to your area of activity. The ANPE has several offices in each town, specialized according to the field of activity. Job vacancies are generally posted on boards in the main entrance hall. When you find an interesting offer, you just have to take it to the receptionist who will give you the contact details if they are not mentioned in the advert. You can phone, use the web and make copies of your CV for free. If you’re looking for executive and management level employment, there is a separate branch called ANPE cadres which only deals in this type of vacancy. You can also search in the APEC website here which is specific for young graduate and people with background who want to find executive and management job.

Another good way to find a job is the temping industry : it’s a solution to get familiar with the French workplace and often a brief contract leads to a full-time position. Visit the website of 2 of the biggest agencies dealing with temporary work in every fields : ADECCO and VediorBis

Obviously, as there are international companies in France as well as French companies doing business with English-speaking countries all over the world, make a list of those to whom you can offer your services.

Aside those organisations, there are many websites about jobs searching like:
http://www.emailjob.com, http://www.monster.fr, and http://www.jobpilot.com.

Visit your local job centre and its website here , you will find a lot of information and advice on job hunting in France.

The official website of Unedic and Assedic ( http://www.assedic.fr ), organizations in load of the insurance unemployment in France, is also full of information.

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Transport
French Rail Road Network
To travel across France by train, join Great Britain or arrange holidays all over the world, this website will give you all information you may require. http://www.sncf.fr

Guide Michelin This website is a wonderful tool to find route planner, maps, tourist information, hotels and restaurants throughout Europe.

http//www.viamichelin.com

Flying to France

Those websites will give you all information needed if you want to come down to France by plane.

List of airports disserving Languedoc-Roussillon :

http://www.carcassonne.cci.fr/pages/aeroport.htm

http://www.montpellier.aeroport.fr/

http://www.perpignan.cci.fr/index.php?zon=8

http://www.toulouse.aeroport.fr/default.asp

List of Flight Companies :

http://www.easyjet.com

http://www.ryanair.com

http://www.flybe.com

http://www.britishairways.com