How to Study in France Without IELTS

Can you study in France without IELTS? The straight answer

Partly, and more often than in most of Europe. France’s immigration rules set no language condition at all: neither France-Visas nor Campus France lists a French or English certificate among the documents for the student visa. Each of the 3,500 recognised institutions then decides for itself, and several publish no numeric English floor anywhere. Two doors are open. The first is an English-taught programme at a university that accepts something other than IELTS — TOEFL iBT, a medium-of-instruction letter, an earlier degree taught in English, or a self-declared B2 to C1 level. The second is a French-taught programme, where the certificate you sit is DELF or TCF, not IELTS. You can avoid IELTS in France; you cannot avoid proving a language. The catch is where the English teaching sits. Sorbonne University, the University of Bordeaux, the University of Lille, Université Paris-Saclay and the University of Strasbourg teach no bachelor’s degree in English, while Strasbourg alone runs 98 English-taught master’s programmes. Undergraduate study without French is largely a private-institution route. Our guide to studying in France sets out the wider picture.

“No IELTS” is not “no English” — the distinction

Agents in Lagos and Accra sell “no IELTS” as “no English needed”. It is not that. An English-taught degree in France is examined in English — seminar work, oral defences, a thesis — and universities set the level at B2 or C1 on the Common European Framework. HEC Paris asks for C1 at master’s level and B2 at bachelor’s, with no test score published; Sciences Po asks undergraduate applicants to hold a C1-equivalent level and makes the certificate itself optional. What changes without IELTS is the evidence you file, not the standard you meet. A medium-of-instruction letter records the language your school taught in, not your own level, which is why some universities read it case by case. Pick the alternative your target university names on its own page, then check that the rule covers your programme. Our guide to IELTS alternatives sets out what each option costs in time and money.

Typical English requirements at universities in France

Where a French university publishes a number, it is almost always a master’s number, because that is where the English-taught teaching sits.

The lowest published floors are at Université Grenoble Alpes — IELTS 6 or TOEFL iBT 78 — with the University of Bordeaux and Université Paris-Saclay a step above at IELTS 6 or TOEFL iBT 80. The University of Lille and Université Paris Cité both set IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 90, and Lille adds a minimum for each band. Université PSL publishes IELTS 6.5 where it publishes anything at all. ESSEC Business School sets IELTS 6.5 for its Global BBA, the same at master’s level, and TOEFL iBT 90. The highest bars are Sciences Po at IELTS 7 and the English-track master’s at Aix-Marseille Université at IELTS 7 or TOEFL iBT 95. As a reference point, the floors we track for France are IELTS 6.5 at bachelor’s and 6.5 at master’s.

HEC Paris, Sorbonne University, the University of Strasbourg and Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 publish no numeric floor at all. A missing number is not an open door: it means the level is judged from your file, your prior degree or an interview, and a judgement is harder to prepare for than a test date. Programme lists are on our French universities page.

Universities that accept students without IELTS

Sciences Po is the clearest case. For the Undergraduate College, attaching a language test to your application is explicitly optional: you must hold a C1-equivalent level in English or French, and a medium-of-instruction letter or a WAEC English grade counts as evidence. Its master’s programmes are stricter, at IELTS 7.

HEC Paris publishes no test minimum and exempts you outright if a previous degree was taught entirely in English. ESSEC Business School waives the test if your final two or three years of schooling were entirely in English, and accepts the Duolingo English Test — but only for its Rabat track.

The University of Lille accepts a medium-of-instruction letter and a WAEC English grade for the English-taught master’s programmes it runs, 40 of them. Université Paris Cité and Université Grenoble Alpes both read a medium-of-instruction letter case by case. Université PSL asks for B2 to C1 on most English-taught routes and frequently does not require you to prove it at application.

Every one of these rules is programme-specific: the same university can waive the test for one degree and refuse the waiver for the next, so read the programme page rather than the general admissions page. Aix-Marseille Université, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 and Université Paris-Saclay publish no medium-of-instruction waiver at all.

Local-language programmes: France’s other door

French-taught programmes are the larger half of French higher education, and at Licence level they are close to the whole of it. Sorbonne University, the University of Bordeaux, the University of Lille, Université Paris-Saclay and the University of Strasbourg teach no bachelor’s degree in English. The level asked is B2, evidenced by DELF or TCF: Lille accepts DELF B2, TCF from 450 or DALF C1–C2, and Lyon 1 and Sorbonne raise it to C1 for medicine and for some master’s degrees. Bordeaux waives the certificate for applicants who were taught in French. Tuition does not change: €178–2,902 per year at bachelor’s level, plus the CVEC contribution of €105 per year.

For Moroccan applicants this is the whole reason France works: 42,015 Moroccans study in France, against 1,378 Nigerians, 547 Ghanaians and 246 Kenyans. If you are applying from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia or Zimbabwe, French from scratch is the slowest route on this page and also the cheapest.

When you still need a recognised English test

Some doors need a certificate whatever the university says. Scholarships come first: the Eiffel programme and Erasmus Mundus consortia set their own language evidence, and a letter from your school rarely clears it — see our Eiffel scholarship guide. Medicine is not an English question at all, because it is taught in French at C1; tuition is €526 per year in the final clinical cycle. Competitive master’s programmes with small intakes will take the test-holder over the interview candidate when they have to choose. The visa is the exception: the VLS-TS étudiant (long-stay visa valid as residence permit, student category) asks for no language proof, as our France student visa guide explains.

The honest bit: what “without IELTS” does and doesn’t buy you

It buys you a shorter list, not an easier one. Skipping IELTS removes a fee and a test date; it does not remove the level, the deadlines or the money you must show. Each alternative has its own price. The institutions that waive tests most readily are the private ones, where tuition runs €14,900–23,900 per year at bachelor’s level and €24,000–30,450 per year at master’s, against €178–2,902 per year at a public university. A waiver based on your prior schooling still has to be documented and believed, and an interview cannot be resat on demand. If your target is a public university, sitting a mainstream test is usually cheaper than rebuilding your plan around avoiding one — weigh it against the full cost of studying in France.