Study in France from Africa in 2027/28

Why study in France?

France is the cheapest of the large Western European destinations if you get a place at a public university. The national non-EU rate is €178–2,902 per year for a Licence and €255–3,950 per year for a Master, and the bottom of each band is real: universities can exonerate non-EU students down to the fee French students pay. Université Paris Cité charges every Licence entrant €178 per year, and Université Paris-Saclay charges €255 per year for a master’s. There are 3,500 recognised institutions, the degrees are EU qualifications, and the country already teaches 443,500 international students.

Three catches decide most cases. The first is language: outside the business schools and a set of master’s programmes, teaching is in French, and a DELF or TCF certificate at B2 is a normal admission condition. The second is the exemption itself. A May 2026 decree ended blanket institutional waivers and limits exoneration to individually assessed financial-hardship cases, so the 2027/28 picture is tighter than the bottom of those fee bands suggests. The third is process. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco must apply through Campus France’s Études en France platform, academic interview included, before a consulate will see them; Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are not on that list and apply to institutions directly, which also means they pay the higher visa fee.

How much does it cost to study in France?

Public universities bill by the year, not the semester. Where you land inside the national band depends on your university’s exoneration policy. Sorbonne University charges €178–2,895 per year for a Licence depending on whether you are exempted; Aix-Marseille Université charges the full €2,902 per year; University of Lille charges first-time master’s entrants €254 per year. Medicine in the final clinical cycle costs €526 per year, identical for EU and non-EU students. Private schools are a separate market: €14,900–23,900 per year for a bachelor’s and €24,000–30,450 per year for a master’s. Every enrolled student also pays the CVEC contribution of €105 per year.

Living costs are the real budget. Campus France estimates €600–800 per month nationally, but the cities run higher: Paris €1,235–1,700 per month with a room at €400–900 per month, Lyon €900–1,350 per month, Lille €650–1,300 per month, and Grenoble the cheapest of the big campuses at €600–1,000 per month. State health cover is free: registration with the PUMA scheme is automatic on enrolment and reimburses a fixed share of your medical costs, with an optional top-up mutuelle priced by the insurer.

Budget the first year as one annual tuition payment, €105 per year of CVEC and twelve months of living costs, before flights, visa fees and the arrival tax. The consulate judges you on €877.50 per month, not on what you expect to spend. City-by-city figures are on our France cost of study page.

Universities in France

France sorts its institutions more sharply than most of Europe. Public universities award national diplomas and charge the national rate, exonerated or full. Grands établissements such as Sciences Po are public but set their own fees; grandes écoles such as HEC Paris and ESSEC are private and selective.

Six are worth knowing first. Université Paris-Saclay (#76 (QS 2027)) exonerates non-EU students to the French rate and runs 60 English-taught master’s programmes in engineering, computer science and data science. Sorbonne University (#73 (QS 2027)) is the broadest research university in Paris. Université PSL (#34 (QS 2027)) ranks highest of all, though its English-taught bachelor’s programmes are priced separately at €178–20,000 per year. Université Paris Cité is the one for medicine, pharmacy and public health, at €526 per year. University of Strasbourg lists 98 English-taught master’s, the longest in our dataset. Université Grenoble Alpes (#387 (QS 2027)) pairs engineering and physics with the lowest living costs of the major campuses.

English-taught bachelor’s programmes barely exist at public universities, so a school leaver without French chooses between a private school and a language year. Where teaching is in English the usual floor is IELTS 6.5 for a bachelor’s and 6.5 for a master’s. The windows are fixed and early: DAP procedure (Licence 1 / PASS-L.AS / Architecture) for 2027/28 entry: platform opens 1 October 2026, closes 15 December 2026, 18:00 (metropolitan France time). For postgraduate entry: HDAP procedure (Licence 2/3, Master) for 2027/28 entry: platform opens 1 October 2026, closes 8 January 2027, 23:59; institutional decisions by 30 April 2027; candidate acceptance by 31 May 2027. Profiles are on our French universities page, and the test-free routes on studying in France without IELTS.

Student visa & proof of funds

You apply for the VLS-TS étudiant, a long-stay visa that works as your residence permit once you validate it after arrival. The visa costs €50–99: the reduced rate applies where the file passes through Études en France — Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco — and the full rate to Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Add the application-centre fee of €28–31 and, on arrival, the OFII stay tax of €100, which doubled on 1 May 2026. Decisions take 2–7 weeks.

Where you file depends on where you live. Nigerians submit at TLScontact in Abuja or Lagos, Ghanaians at VFS Global in Accra, Kenyans at TLScontact Nairobi, Egyptians at TLScontact in Cairo or Alexandria after the Institut français step, South Africans at CAPAGO in Johannesburg or Cape Town, Moroccans at TLScontact centres in Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech and elsewhere. Ugandans apply at the French Embassy in Kampala and Zimbabweans at the embassy in Harare. Zambians lodge at CAPAGO Lusaka, but the file is decided by the consulate in Johannesburg.

The money test is €877.50 per month, raised on 1 August 2026, and it is a documentary standard rather than a blocked account: bank statements, a sponsor’s signed attestation de prise en charge, an irrevocable transfer certificate or a scholarship award letter all count. Biometrics are taken. There is no TB test and no medical examination. The detail is in France student visa requirements and our proof of funds guide.

Working & staying after study

Work rights come with the validated visa, so you need no separate permit. The cap is 964 hours/year (60% of the 1,607-hour annual legal working time) — an annual cap, not split into term-time/holiday allowances. Your employer must file a déclaration nominative with the prefecture at least two working days before you start, and going over the annual cap puts your permit renewal at risk. The minimum wage is €12.31 per hour gross, raised on 1 June 2026.

After a master’s you can stay 12 months on the APS — autorisation provisoire de séjour — to look for work or start a business, for €150. It is not renewable, and a standard Licence does not qualify: the qualifying diplomas are the Master, Mastère Spécialisé, MSc and Licence Professionnelle. Be honest with yourself about French. Research, IT and some corporate roles run in English, but most employers interview in French, and since January 2026 any first multi-year residence permit, including the student card after your first year, requires a civic exam and French at A2.

Scholarships for African students

The national scheme that matters is Eiffel, for master’s and doctoral candidates, and the institution nominates you — you cannot apply directly. Students from Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda and Zambia are eligible across the scheme; for Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco eligibility is restricted, so read the individual call before you build a plan around it. Erasmus Mundus joint master’s degrees are fully funded and open to applicants from all nine of our countries.

The larger saving is structural rather than competitive. At a public university the gap between the full non-EU rate and the exonerated French rate is the whole width of €255–3,950 per year, and some universities exonerate automatically: Paris-Saclay and Paris Cité do, and Lille does for first-time master’s entrants. That exemption is getting harder to obtain — from 2027/28 it is decided case by case on financial hardship rather than granted institution-wide. Holders of a French government scholarship are automatically treated as meeting the proof-of-funds test. See France scholarships and the Erasmus Mundus guide.

Who France suits — and who it doesn’t

France suits a master’s applicant with a completed three- or four-year degree, a specific research or professional plan they can defend in an interview, and €600–800 per month available outside Paris. Engineering, computer science, data science, public health and law all have English-taught master’s routes at the national fee — see our master’s in France guide. It also suits anyone with French from school: Moroccan applicants, and francophone students generally, face the shortest route in Europe.

It suits an English-only school leaver least. A WASSCE, KCSE or NSC will be accepted for Licence 1 entry at most of these universities, but the teaching is in French and B2 is normally required, so the realistic plan is a language year first. France is also a weak choice if you must earn most of your living while studying, or if you want to stay on after a bachelor’s, because a standard Licence does not open the post-study permit.