France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship

The France Excellence Eiffel Scholarship is France's flagship scholarship for excellent international Master's and PhD students. Students cannot normally apply directly. A French university must nominate the candidate. For the 2026 campaign, Campus France stated that the call opened on 1 October 2025 and closed for institutions on 8 January 2026.

Required documents

• Strong academic transcripts.
• Degree certificate or proof of expected graduation.
• Passport copy.
• CV.
• Motivation letter.
• Study plan or professional project.
• Admission or pre-admission to a French institution.
• Recommendation letters.
• Language certificate, depending on programme language:
• French certificate for French-taught programmes.
• IELTS, TOEFL or equivalent for English-taught programmes.
• Research proposal for PhD applicants.
• University nomination file prepared by the French institution.
• Proof of academic excellence and leadership potential.

Eligible nationalities

• Open to foreign nationals.
• French nationals are not eligible.
• Dual nationals with French nationality are generally not eligible.
• Master's applicants are subject to an age limit, set in the annual call.
• PhD applicants also have an age limit, set in the annual call.
• Priority may be given to candidates from emerging countries for Master's level and emerging or industrialised countries for PhD level, depending on the call.

How to apply

• Identify a French Master's or PhD programme.
• Contact the programme or international office early.
• Ask whether the university can nominate you for Eiffel.
• Submit your documents to the French university, not directly to Campus France.
• The French institution prepares and submits the Eiffel application.
• Campus France reviews nominations and publishes results.

Usual timeline

• Start preparing: June to September.
• Contact universities: September to November.
• University internal deadline: often November or December.
• Official institutional deadline: usually early January.
• Results: usually March or April.
• Admission and visa: April to July.
• Arrival in France: August or September.
• Scholarship start: at the beginning of the academic year, usually September.
• Payment: after arrival and administrative registration.