← Back to homeCollège International Français de Sarajevo

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina · est. 1998 · Private
Illustration · Sarajevo
Collège International Français de Sarajevo was founded in 1998 and calls itself the only French school in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It now has 266 students, from the très petite section for two-year-olds to the final class, terminale. The programme is French, to the standards of the French Ministry of National Education, and the school belongs to the AEFE network as a partner school. Teaching is in French, while English and Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian are given from the kindergarten onwards, so that a leaver comes out with three languages. Classes are kept below 25 children, and the school explains its emphasis on individual support for each student by this. It occupies a building of Austro-Hungarian style on Paromlinska Street, feeds its students in a canteen and carries them in school minibuses from their homes. A student may move to another school of the AEFE or Odyssey networks without an entrance examination, and sits the leaving examinations at a partner school in Belgrade. The teaching is shared between teachers certified by the French ministry and local teachers.
Key facts
Programmes
French programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
French
Languages taught
English, Bosnian
Admissions The application is made online through the Eduka portal, with school reports and copies of the child's and the parents' passports attached. Within five working days the school offers an educational interview, after which the place is confirmed by email. The family then pays the first enrolment fee; it is not refunded if the place is given up, and confirmation of enrolment arrives within seven days of payment. Enrolment is open throughout the year, subject to availability. Questions about grants for French families are referred by the school to the consular section of the French Embassy.
Stages and year groups The stages run from the très petite section for two-year-olds through maternelle, élémentaire and collège to the lycée and the final class, terminale, at 17-18. The school gates open at 7:30 and the daycare runs from 7:30 to 17:30; the year is divided into periods of 6 to 7 weeks of classes with two-week holidays between them.
Address Paromlinska 66, 71000 Sarajevo
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
AEFE · accreditationOdyssey Education · school is part of the networkThe AEFE homologation is full: the Agency's register credits the school with all 15 levels, from petite section to terminale. The school names its own status in the network - établissement partenaire homologué de l'AEFE, that is a partner school rather than a conventionné one. Separately, the school states that it is approved by the French Ministry of National Education and by the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo Canton, and that it is the only French school in the country. A student may move to another school of the AEFE or Odyssey networks without an entrance examination. The examinations - the Diplôme national du brevet and the French baccalauréat - are sat at a partner school in Belgrade.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
AEFEAgency for French Education Abroad
It runs the network of French schools worldwide, while the accreditation itself, the homologation, is granted by the French education ministry and inspected by French state inspectors. A leaver from a homologated school moves into a school in France without an entrance examination. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →French programme
The state programme of France. A school is homologated by the French ministry of education, and a leaver may move into a school in France without entrance tests. Homologation is granted stage by stage, so it sometimes covers only part of the year groups.
What this means for this school. Which year groups of this school are covered by homologation - only the primary ones, or all the way to the final year - is not stated here. The difference matters: it decides whether the school takes a child through to the French baccalaureate or hands them on to another school halfway.
Odyssey Educationschool network
A French group of international schools with its own site, odyssey.education; it describes itself as "a French international education group whose schools around the world provide an outstanding education from kindergarten through high school, combining the French national curriculum with innovative teaching methods", and its programme is declared as homologated by AEFE. The year the group was created is not given on the site; it says that Luc Chatel, a former French minister, co-founded Odyssey Education and has been its president since 2020, and that Catherine Lespine holds the post of chief executive. The numbers disagree within the site itself, and we give them all: the "Our schools" section writes "12 excellent schools on 3 continents and in 11 countries", the "A propos" page shows 12 schools and lists ten countries, and the French "Groupe Odyssey" page lists eleven schools in nine countries. The Asian part of the network is four schools under the La Petite Ecole name: Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi; La Petite Ecole Bangkok is given in the list of the group's schools and in the footer, with a link to lpebangkok.com. The site gives no total number of pupils and nowhere explains whether the schools belong to the group, are managed by it or work as a franchise.
What this means for this school. The network owns or operates the school. Its accreditation and programme authorisation the school obtains separately, in its own name.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Exam results The school does not publish numerical results. Students sit the Diplôme national du brevet at the end of the collège and the French baccalauréat at the end of the lycée; the examinations themselves are held at a partner school of the network in Belgrade.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓CateringThe school provides a catering service for its students.
✓School transportA school bus service: minibuses collect the children from their homes and bring them to school.
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: The school occupies a spacious, quiet and bright building of Austro-Hungarian style on Paromlinska Street.
Clubs and activities: After-school activities · After-school care
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Some of the teachers are certified by the French Ministry of National Education, others by the local ministry of education.
Classes are kept below 25 children.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data64 Value for money (6%) scored at the median90 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country