France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship
A French government scholarship for master's and PhD study — with one rule that changes everything: only French institutions may submit an application, and student-submitted applications are rejected.
Programme at a glance
- Scholarship
- France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship
- Provider
- French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (managed by Campus France)
- Study level
- Master's and doctoral
- Where you study
- France
- Who it is for
- International students pre-selected and nominated by a French higher education institution
- Application deadline
- An annual call published by Campus France; institutions have earlier internal deadlines
- Award details
- Monthly allowance plus international travel, health cover and cultural activities; tuition is not automatically included
- Official application source
- campusfrance.org — official Eiffel programme page (opens in a new tab)
- Last verified
Verify before you apply. Award values, closing dates and eligibility rules are set by the provider and change every cycle. ScholarBrief does not publish those figures. Treat the official page linked above as the only authority, and check it yourself before submitting anything.
What it is
The France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship Programme was established by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to enable French higher education institutions to attract top international students onto their master’s and PhD programmes. It is managed by Campus France on the Ministry’s behalf.
It is a recruitment instrument for French institutions as much as an award for students, and understanding that is the key to using it.
The rule that decides everything
Only French institutions may apply — students cannot
Applications are submitted exclusively by French higher education institutions. The institution pre-selects candidates and submits an online application on the student’s behalf through the Campus France system.
Applications submitted directly to Campus France by students, or by foreign educational institutions, are rejected. There is no exception, no appeal and no alternative route.
If your French university decides to support your Eiffel candidacy, it will send you the application form, help you complete it, and submit it to Campus France in Paris on your behalf.
So the task facing a student is not “apply for Eiffel”. It is get a French institution to nominate you, which is a different problem with a different timeline. Institutions have a limited number of nominations, run their own internal selection, and set their own internal deadlines well before the Campus France call closes.
What the award covers
Eiffel provides a monthly allowance to the scholar, together with a set of associated benefits that ordinarily include international return travel, health insurance cover and support for cultural activities. Domestic travel within France may be included in defined circumstances.
Tuition is a separate question
Eiffel is structured around a maintenance allowance rather than as a tuition waiver. Whether tuition is charged to you at all depends on the institution and on French tuition regulations for international students, which differ between public and private institutions and between programme types. Some institutions waive or reduce fees for Eiffel laureates; others do not. Ask the institution directly what your total cost would be with an Eiffel award — do not assume it is zero.
How to approach it in practice
- Choose French institutions and programmes first Eiffel is not a route into France; it is support attached to a place at a specific institution. Identify master’s or doctoral programmes that genuinely fit you.
- Apply for admission through the normal route Depending on your nationality and country of residence this may be through Études en France, directly to the institution, or through a national platform. Campus France’s country pages explain which applies.
- Ask about Eiffel explicitly and early Contact the international office or the programme coordinator and ask: does this institution nominate for Eiffel, in which fields, what is the internal deadline, and what does it require from candidates? Ask this months before the Campus France call closes.
- Provide what the institution needs for a strong nomination Typically a full academic record, a CV, a statement of purpose, and evidence of academic excellence relative to your cohort. The institution is spending a scarce nomination, so it puts forward candidates who make it look good to the Ministry.
- The institution submits and the results are published by Campus France in the annual cycle.
What the programme prioritises
The Eiffel call sets out priority fields, which have historically centred on areas aligned with French external policy and economic priorities — broadly, sciences and engineering, economics and management, political science and law. The exact field definitions are set in each annual call and matter, because an application outside the priority fields is not competitive regardless of quality.
The programme also has an age dimension, with limits or preferences that differ between the master’s and doctoral levels, and it explicitly targets candidates who are not already resident in France or already receiving another French government scholarship. Check all of these in the current call before committing time.
Warnings
- Do not submit an application yourself. It will be rejected, and it wastes the cycle.
- Do not wait for the Campus France deadline. Your real deadline is the institution’s internal one, which is earlier and often unpublished — you have to ask.
- Do not assume tuition is covered. Confirm your total cost with the institution in writing.
- Priority fields and age rules change per call. Read the current call, not last year’s.
- No agency can nominate you. Only a French higher education institution can, and any service claiming otherwise is fraudulent.
What to confirm officially
At campusfrance.org (opens in a new tab): the current annual call, its priority fields, eligibility conditions including age and residence rules, and the calendar. Then contact your target French institutions directly about their internal nomination process and deadline.
Related: DAAD scholarships in Germany and how to compare universities.