Second Degree in France When You Already Hold a Degree

Three ways to study in France when you already have a degree

France sets no national rule against studying again at a level you have already reached, and the age limit is none. Three routes are open.

A second bachelor’s means a full French Licence: 3 years, 180 ECTS, at the ordinary non-EU fee, with no penalty for holding a degree already.

A conversion master’s is the route most graduates should take. Entry to the first year of a Master (diplome national de master) is decided on your dossier, and nothing in the national rules requires your first degree to be in the same subject: two years, 120 ECTS, and a French qualification above the one you arrived with.

A top-up fits holders of an HND or another two-year diploma rather than a full degree: a licence professionnelle is a national diploma at bachelor’s level, normally one year.

Our default recommendation is the conversion master’s. It is shorter than starting again, it opens the post-study permit a standard licence does not, and it is easier to defend at the Campus France interview: moving up a level is a plan a consular officer recognises without explanation.

A second bachelor’s in France

France applies no second-degree restriction of the kind Germany uses. A second bachelor’s is allowed: yes, with no national quota, no surcharge and no limit on degrees already held. You pay the ordinary non-EU rate, €178–2,902 per year, plus the CVEC of €105 per year. The low end is the exonerated rate, the high end the full differentiated rate; a decree of 21 May 2026 restricted exonerations to documented individual hardship, so plan on the top of the band.

The way in is the file school leavers use: Études en France under the DAP procedure for Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco, and a DAP dossier blanc filed with the French embassy for Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It lets you name three universities and closes on 15 December 2026 (DAP file for September 2027 entry; procedure opens 1 October 2026).

Credit for your first degree is not automatic: to start above the first year you file for validation des acquis professionnels (VAP 85), where a pedagogical commission reads your studies, your work and your skills and recommends exemptions to the institution’s president. Competitiveness is the real constraint: second and third-year places are limited and read against students already in the programme.

Changing field with a conversion master’s

Three mechanisms exist, and none is a national bridging scheme. The first is direct admission to the first year of a master in a different field: entry is on dossier, within the capacité d’accueil each institution sets, and the institution decides, in practice by asking for demonstrable prior coursework in the target subject. Where a gap remains, it imposes its own catch-up modules.

The second is the Mastère Spécialisé, a Conférence des Grandes Écoles label rather than a national diploma: twelve months of professional training, open to holders of five years of post-secondary study, or four years plus three years of professional work. Each school sets its own price.

The third is VAP 85 again, which lets an institution admit you to a master without the licence normally required.

Fees follow the ordinary bands: €255–3,950 per year at a public university, from €255 per year at Université Paris Cité to €3,950 per year at Aix-Marseille Université. Teaching language narrows your shortlist faster than fees do: University of Strasbourg lists 98 English-taught master’s, Université Paris-Saclay 60 and University of Lille 40. Compare them on our French universities page.

HND and diploma holders: top-up routes

France sells nothing called a top-up year, but the substance exists. A holder of an HND, an advanced diploma or another two-year post-secondary qualification can be admitted to a licence professionnelle: a national diploma at bachelor’s level, conferring the grade de licence, normally one year, explicitly open to holders of a BTS, a BTSA or another French level-five diploma. African two-year diplomas are read against that standard. If your diploma runs three years, the alternative is direct entry to the third year of a general licence, again through VAP 85.

How much credit you receive is decided case by case by the university that admits you. The recognition body is Centre ENIC-NARIC France (part of France Éducation international), which issues an attestation de comparabilité. Campus France states that this attestation does not constitute an equivalence in itself, so it informs a university’s decision without binding it — order it early, and do not read it as an admission.

Documents must also be authenticated: apostille needed, yes, which South Africa and Morocco can use as Hague Convention members, while the other seven origins need full consular legalisation. That chain takes weeks, so start it early.

Visa, age and funding for a second degree

The visa rules carry no age bar and no same-level bar — the age limit is none — but they assess purpose of stay. A Campus France academic interview examines your file in several origin countries, and the consulate reads the projet d’études. A weak or incoherent study project sits on the published refusal list, and a second degree at a level you have already reached, offered without a reason, reads as exactly that: document the change of field or the professional objective in the file itself. Since 1 January 2026 a first multi-year residence permit, including the student carte de séjour pluriannuelle, also requires the ECVR civic examination and A2 French.

Money is judged against €877.50 per month. The visa costs €50–99 and the OFII stay tax €100 once you land; see France student visa requirements.

Funding is where a second degree is weakest. Eiffel is age-capped at 35, runs at master, phd level only and makes 433 awards a year; Erasmus Mundus covers tuition in full and pays €1,400 per month, again at master’s level. Institutional fee waivers now turn on documented personal hardship. Work is capped at 964 hours/year (60% of the 1,607-hour annual legal working time) — an annual cap, not split into term-time/holiday allowances, paid at €12.31 per hour. See France scholarships.

How to apply with a degree in hand

1. Have your first degree read. Order an attestation de comparabilité from Centre ENIC-NARIC France (part of France Éducation international) and begin legalisation or apostille of every certificate at once.
2. Choose the route first. A second licence, a conversion master’s and a licence professionnelle carry different deadlines, platforms and post-study rights.
3. Test the entry level. For entry above the first year, ask each registrar in writing whether it accepts a VAP 85 file and what evidence it expects.
4. Check the teaching language. French-taught programmes ask for B2 and the DAP route requires the TCF tout public; English-taught master’s set their own score, the national reference being IELTS 6.5. See studying in France without IELTS.
5. Open the file on the right platform. The six Études en France countries use the hors-DAP route for master’s; Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe use Mon Master. The file opens at https://pastel.diplomatie.gouv.fr/etudesenfrance/.
6. Submit inside the window. 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.
7. Build the money file. Bank statements, a guarantor’s attestation de prise en charge with evidenced income, a transfer certificate or a scholarship letter, against €877.50 per month.
8. Sit the interview, then apply for the visa. Defend the second degree as a change of direction, lodge the VLS-TS application and validate it on arrival.