The Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Program was established by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs to enable French higher education institutions to attract top foreign students to enroll in their masters and PhD programs.
It gives opportunities to future foreign decision-makers of the private and public sectors, in priority areas of study, and encourages applicants up to 30 years old from developing countries at master’s level, and applicants up to 35 years old from developing and industrialized countries at PhD level.
Course level and duration:
Master’s component: a maximum of 12 months for awardees entering the second year of a master’s program (M2); a maximum of 24 months for awardees entering the first year of a master’s program (M1); a maximum of 36 months for awardees entering an engineering program
Doctoral component: a maximum of 12 months (may be divided into 2 or 3 separate periods)
Fields of study: Law, economics and management, political sciences, engineering sciences (master’s level), and general sciences (doctoral level)
Institution and country: Any higher education institution in France
Sponsor: The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs
Scholarship inclusions:
- Full exemption from tuition fees
- Monthly allowance: €1,181 (master’s); €1,400 (doctoral)
- Roundtrip international air travel costs
- Train travel tickets within France
- Reimbursement of local transportation costs from/to the airport at the start/end of the program (up to €50)
- Health insurance
- Supplemental health insurance (“mutuelle”)
- Cultural activities
- Housing assistance
Eligibility criteria for the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Program:
- Nationality. A candidate should be a non-French national. Dual citizenship, one of which is French, is also not eligible.
- Age. Must be 30 years old or below for master’s, and 35 years old or below for doctoral students
- Since all candidate applications are done thru the French educational institutions, only those applications submitted by French educational institutions to Campus France will be accepted.
- Applicants who have already been awarded another French government scholarship will not be accepted, even if the other scholarship covered only health insurance.
- Master’s level. An application nominating a student rejected in a previous competition will not be accepted, even if the application was submitted by a different institution or in another field of study. Students who have previously received an Eiffel master’s scholarship are not eligible to receive another at the master’s level.
- Doctoral level. Institutions may nominate for a doctoral scholarship a candidate previously awarded a scholarship at the master’s level. Candidates previously awarded a doctoral scholarship are not eligible to receive another
- Language proficiency. When preselecting non-French-speaking candidates, institutions shall ensure that the candidates’ language skills meet the requirements of the academic program.
Application period: 27 September 2021 to 7 January 2022
How to apply for the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Program:
All applications are made through the French higher education institute. Interested students should contact the institution to determine that institution’s deadline for submission of students’ application materials. Results are announced in April so as to allow students applying to other scholarship programs to learn early on whether they have been selected for an Eiffel scholarship.
Other useful links:
