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Eiffel Excellence Scholarship for African Students in 2027

Reviewed by World Study Team Updated

The Eiffel Excellence Scholarship pays €1,200–2,100 per month for a master's or doctorate in France and covers no tuition at all. It made 433 awards in its last session, and the age limit is 35. You cannot apply yourself: only the French institution that admits you may file, and a candidate refused once can never be presented again.

What is the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship?

The Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Programme is the French government’s own award for foreign students, funded by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and run by Campus France. It funds two levels only: master, phd. There is no bachelor’s track.

The route is via-university. Only a French higher education institution accredited to award a national master’s degree, an accredited engineering degree or a doctorate — joint and co-tutelle doctorates included — may present a candidate. A file sent by a student, or by a university outside France, is not assessed. That single rule decides your whole plan: win the place first, then ask the institution to put you forward.

The last published session made 433 awards, split between master’s and doctoral level and spread across many nationalities. Seven expert panels appointed by the Ministry rank the files. France is the only destination that lists the scheme; France scholarships for African students sets out the alternatives.

What does it cover?

Start with what it does not pay, because this is where most applicants misread the scheme: tuition fees are not covered by the programme Your university may waive or reduce its own fee for a laureate, but that is its decision, not part of the award.

What arrives is the stipend: €1,200–2,100 per month, the lower rate at master’s level and the higher at doctoral level, at the rates in force since January 2026. Travel is included: Return international travel between the home country and France plus national transport on arrival; the return leg stays available for 12 months after the grant ends, subject to final results.

Housing is placement, not money: Campus France arranges a place in a hall of residence or with a host family, which you may decline and house yourself. On top of that: Visa fees covered where applicable; access to the Campus France cultural and leisure programme at subsidised rates. Not applicable: the programme provides no family or dependants' allowance.

Who can apply from our countries?

The programme sets no list of countries. Open to foreign nationals only. Candidates holding French nationality, including dual nationals, are excluded; there is no eligible-country list and no country quota, but the Ministry's cooperation and partnership policy is a stated selection criterion.

In our dataset, five of the nine origins we work with come out eligible: Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda and Zambia. Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco are marked restricted, so check the current session rules for your passport before an institution spends weeks on your file. Restricted means the cooperation policy above works against those passports in practice, not that a ban is published anywhere.

Level is the next filter. The scheme funds master, phd, so a bachelor’s degree cannot be funded here at all. Master's applicants need the qualification giving access to the French master's or engineering programme, with three years of transcripts. Doctoral applicants need a master's degree and a thesis project assessed by an external expert.

Age is the hard cut: the maximum is 35. Years spent working in between do not count against you, because the call sets no work-experience requirement Nor is there a tie afterwards: the Session 2026 rules impose no obligation to return home

Deadline and timeline for 2027/28

Nothing is published yet for the intake you are planning: the 2027-session dates were still unpublished when this page was last checked. Work to the pattern instead: the call opens at the end of September or the start of October, institutions submit in the first week of January, and results follow at the end of March.

For reference, the last round opened 1 October 2025, closed 8 January 2026 and released results from 30 March 2026. Your own deadline is earlier than all of them, because each university sets an internal nomination date weeks before the national one.

Money follows the academic year, not your convenience: Master's: up to 12 months when entering the second year, up to 24 months when entering the first year, up to 36 months for an accredited engineering programme. Doctorate: 12, 18 or 36 months — 36 for a first-year candidate arriving from abroad, 12 for candidates in their second or third year. Funding must start between 1 September and 30 November of the award year and cannot be postponed.

How to apply for the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship

  1. Choose a programme in a priority field and apply to it (autumn 2026). The award follows admission, so the place comes first. Where the Campus France procedure applies to your country, that application runs through Études en France.
  2. Ask the international relations office to nominate you. Write to the department and to the international office as soon as your file is admissible, say you are a candidate for Eiffel, and ask for their internal nomination date. No nomination, no application.
  3. Assemble the documents the institution will upload. A copy of your identity document; a CV of no more than two pages, in French or English; diplomas with grades and honours; transcripts for the last three years; a language certificate where applicable; a statement of your professional project of one to two pages; the programme curriculum and full timetable. Doctoral candidates add the thesis project.
  4. Settle the language question early. A language certificate is required only where the chosen programme or institution requires one; the programme itself sets no minimum level. The CV and the professional-project statement may be written in French or English.
  5. The institution opens its Campus France credentials for the session and completes the online form in three sections: the candidate, the programme and the case for the file.
  6. The institution uploads the documents and submits on the master’s or doctoral SMApply campaign, then emails Campus France the signed and stamped bordereau. Nothing you send directly is read.
  7. Seven expert panels appointed by the Ministry assess the files. There is no interview. Selection weighs your record, your project and the Ministry’s cooperation priorities together.
  8. Results, then the visa. Laureates are published from the end of March and funding must start in the autumn. Plan the long-stay student visa and the resource test at that point: France student visa requirements and proof of funds.

Which universities and programmes

Any institution accredited to award a national master’s degree, an accredited engineering degree or a doctorate may present candidates. In our dataset that covers Sorbonne University, Université PSL, Université Paris Cité, Université Paris-Saclay, Sciences Po, HEC Paris, ESSEC Business School, Aix-Marseille Université, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Université Grenoble Alpes, the University of Strasbourg, the University of Lille and the University of Bordeaux.

Two of them work differently. Paris-Saclay names its own priority African countries — Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa. Bordeaux runs its award through its International Office and Graduate Research School rather than through Campus France.

The fields are fixed: Seven priority areas. Science and technology: biology and health; ecological transition; mathematics and digital sciences; engineering sciences. Humanities and social sciences: history, French language and civilisation; law and political science; economics and management. Programme lists sit on our French universities page.

Odds, and what to do if you miss it

There were 433 awards in the last session, worldwide and across every priority field, and your file has to clear two gates: the university’s internal shortlist, then the national panel. Ask for the nomination anyway — it costs you the documents and nothing else.

If it does not land, the route that does cover tuition is Erasmus Mundus, decided by a consortium rather than by France and applied for by you directly: see Erasmus Mundus scholarships. The structural answer is cheaper study rather than a bigger grant, which in France means a public university; see what studying in France costs and how to study abroad for free.

  • The stipend is paid monthly for the whole funded period, €1,200–2,100 per month, with return international travel and national transport on arrival on top.
  • Costs that hurt at the start are handled: Visa fees covered where applicable; access to the Campus France cultural and leisure programme at subsidised rates.
  • The programme sets no language threshold of its own, and your CV and project statement may be written in French or English — an English-taught master’s stays open to you.
  • Nothing about the application costs money, there is no interview, and the institution does the filing work once it has agreed to nominate you.
  • Five of our nine origins are eligible without qualification: Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda and Zambia.
  • None — tuition fees are not covered by the programme. At a grande école that leaves a bill no stipend can meet.
  • You are never the applicant. If no French institution agrees to nominate you, there is no application, whatever your grades.
  • One attempt, and no stacking: Cannot be combined with another French government scholarship, an Erasmus+ grant or an Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie grant. A candidate rejected in a previous session cannot be presented again, even by a different institution.
  • Four of our nine origins — Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco — are marked restricted, so a strong file can still be blocked by the passport.
  • There is no family allowance and no housing allowance, and the funding start cannot be postponed, so a deferred admission loses the grant.
World Study

Our core guidance is free, paid for by university commission when you enrol: shortlisting accredited French programmes that actually nominate for Eiffel, checking whether your passport is eligible or restricted before you commit, and putting the institution's internal nomination date — not the Campus France one — in your calendar. We vet every document before submission, so a missing transcript or an unlegalised diploma does not surface in January. Premium Placement is an optional paid service for full file preparation.

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How to apply for the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship from Africa

  1. Apply to an accredited French programme

    Choose a master's, engineering or doctoral programme in a priority field at an accredited French institution and apply for the place. Where the Campus France procedure applies, use Etudes en France.

  2. Ask the institution to nominate you

    Once your file is admissible, ask the department and the international relations office for their internal Eiffel nomination date. Without a nomination there is no application.

  3. Assemble the supporting documents

    Identity document, a CV of two pages maximum, diplomas with grades and honours, transcripts for the last three years, a language certificate where required, and a one- to two-page project statement.

  4. Confirm the language requirement

    The scheme sets no language level. A certificate is needed only where your programme or institution requires one, and the CV and project statement may be written in French or English.

  5. The institution files the application

    The institution uses its Campus France credentials, completes the online form, uploads the documents, submits on the master's or doctoral campaign and emails the signed and stamped bordereau.

  6. Assessment by the expert panels

    Seven expert panels appointed by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs rank the files. There is no interview. Selection weighs the academic record, the project and cooperation priorities.

  7. Results, visa and arrival

    Laureates are published at the end of March. Funding must start in the autumn of the award year and cannot be postponed, so apply for the long-stay student visa as soon as the result is confirmed.

Frequently asked questions

It is the French government's award for foreign master's and doctoral students, run by Campus France. It pays €1,200–2,100 per month plus return travel, and it pays no tuition. The last session made 433 awards. Your French institution files the application; you cannot submit one yourself, and admission comes first.

In our dataset Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Uganda and Zambia are eligible, while Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Morocco are marked restricted. The scheme itself publishes no country list: Open to foreign nationals only. Candidates holding French nationality, including dual nationals, are excluded; there is no eligible-country list and no country quota, but the Ministry's cooperation and partnership policy is a stated selection criterion.

No. The scheme funds master, phd only, so an undergraduate place cannot be funded by it. Master's candidates need the qualification giving access to the French master's or engineering programme with three years of transcripts; doctoral candidates need a master's degree and a thesis project assessed by an external expert.

No, and this is the most common mistake. The route is via-university: only a French institution accredited to award the degree may present you, and files sent by candidates or by foreign institutions are not assessed. Apply for the study place first, then ask that institution's international relations office to nominate you for the session.

Not published yet. The 2027-session dates had not appeared when this page was last checked. The last round opened 1 October 2025 and closed 8 January 2026, with results from 30 March 2026. Your university's internal nomination date falls weeks earlier, so ask for it in the autumn.

A language certificate is required only where the chosen programme or institution requires one; the programme itself sets no minimum level. The CV and the professional-project statement may be written in French or English. The test you sit is therefore the one your programme demands for admission, not one set by the scholarship.

Thin, and worth trying because the attempt is free. There were 433 awards in the last session across every nationality and every priority field, and you must first be shortlisted inside your own university. Selection weighs your academic record, your professional project and the Ministry's cooperation priorities with your country.

Check the blocking rule first: age over 35, a bachelor's-level place or French nationality ends it outright. A refused candidate cannot be presented again in a later session, even by another institution. Look instead at Erasmus Mundus, at university fee exemptions, and at public universities where the fee is low to begin with.

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