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80 migrants leave Calais 'Jungle' camp for university

The Local France
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80 migrants leave Calais 'Jungle' camp for university
Photo: AFP

Eighty migrants have left the Calais Jungle camp behind for studies at the University of Lille.

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The migrants, the vast majority of whom are Sudanese, left the camp on Tuesday to start an intensive course to learn French.
 
"After the initial training period, they can pursue a traditional university curriculum in the field of their choice," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement. 
 
The move comes as part of France's efforts to dismantle the camp in Calais, where up to 9,000 people are understood to be living. 
 
A professor at the university kick started the project, which has been put into action by the Auberge des migrants aid group and the local government. 
 
Cazeneuve said it was part of the policy of Calais authorities to "protect people in obvious need of protection, who are fleeing war and persecution, and to facilitate their asylum with integration courses."
 
Cazeneuve will head north to meet the migrants on Thursday. 
 
The makeshift settlement in Calais has become a focal point in France of Europe's migrant crisis, the subject of heated debate among politicians and a constant source of tension with Britain, which is where the migrants hope to end up.
 
President Francois Hollande has said that it will be dismantled by the end of the year. 
 
The plan then is to scatter the migrants from the "Jungle" to around a hundred reception centres across France.

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