Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Program - International Scholarships

Scholarship Overview

The Eiffel Excellence Program is a scholarship program that was set up by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.
The objective of this program is to enable French higher education institutions to attract top international students from emerging countries for enrolment in the Masters and PhD courses.
This scholarship program helps to shape future decision-makers in foreign public and private sectors, in priority areas of study. Applications from emerging countries at Master’s level and emerging and industrialized nations at PhD level are encouraged.

Host School(s)

Fields of Study

The Eiffel excellence program offers two components:

A Master component offering 12 to 36 months of funding for a master’s level degree course
A Ph.D. component offering support for up to 12 months of doctoral research in France (part of a joint doctoral program)

The three major areas of study covered by the Eiffel program are:

Engineering sciences at Master’s level, sciences in a broader sense for PhD level
Political Science
Economics and Management
Law

The duration for Master’s courses is as follows:

12 months at M2 level
24 months at M1 level
36 months for engineering degrees
(The scholarship may be extended for two months if the student enrolls for an intensive language course.)

For PhD courses, a maximum of 12 months is allowed for the entire course.

What does the scholarship cover?

Master’s Level

A monthly allowance of €1,181 (maintenance allowance of €1,031 and a monthly stipend of €150)
One international return ticket
Train travel within France from the first study location to the last study location when the recipient is returning to his/her home country
Local transportation – a refund of up to €50 of the cost of travel from the airport or train station to the first study location.
Health insurance
Supplemental health insurance
Cultural activities

PhD Level

A monthly stipend of €1,400 (to be increased to €1700 from January 1, 2021)
One round-trip international return ticket
Train travel within France from the first study location to the last study location when the recipient is returning to his/her home country
Local transportation – a refund of up to €50 of the cost of travel from the airport or train station to the first study location.
Health insurance
Supplemental health insurance
Cultural activities

Note:

For a student to receive the first installment of the monthly allowance, he or she must have started the course of study at the host establishment in France.
Tuition fees are not covered under the Eiffel Excellence Program

How many scholarships are given?

Which countries are targeted?

International students
For Bi-national candidates, if one of the candidate’s nationalities is French, the applicant is not eligible.

Am I Eligible to Apply?

Candidates must be non-French nationals
For master’s courses, candidates should not be older than 25, and at PhD level, not older than 30, on the date of the selection committee meeting (22nd March 2021).
Applications must be submitted by French higher educational establishments in order to be accepted. These institutions will then commit to enroll the scholarship holders in the course for which they have been selected.
The Eiffel Excellence Scholarships are for students who wish to enroll in Master’s (including engineering) and PhD courses in France. This program does not apply to French-run master’s courses abroad. Also, only programs recognized by the French government are eligible.
Any international student who is already in receipt of another French government scholarship is not eligible for the Eiffel scholarships, even if his/her current award only covers health insurance. This policy also applies to Erasmus+ grants and fellowships from the “Agence Universitaire de la Francophone.”
When selecting non-French speaking candidates, French higher education establishments must ensure that their language skills meet the language requirements for the course of study.

Note:

Any student taking a course of study abroad gets priority over students already living in France.
Eiffel Master’s Scholarships – Any scholarship application that was previously rejected will not be accepted, even if it is submitted by a different establishment or is for a different field of study. Also, students who have already received an Eiffel Master’s scholarship cannot re-apply for another award at the same level.
Eiffel PhD Scholarships – French higher education establishments may nominate a candidate who has previously received a Master’s scholarship for a PhD scholarship. Candidates can however not get a second PhD scholarship under the Eiffel Excellence Program. Also, any scholarship application that was previously rejected will not be accepted, even if it is submitted by a different establishment or is for a different field of study.

How do I Apply – Next Steps

a) Nomination

Each French higher education establishment selects candidates for the Eiffel Excellence Program from the international students to whom they have offered placement in a study program.
The establishments complete and submit the application forms for each candidate online. Each application must fulfill the program criteria and should be complete at the time of submission. Incomplete application forms will be rejected. Each establishment should nominate no more than 40 candidates from each field of study for a master’s scholarship.
The list of applications submitted online must be sent to Campus France by 9 January 2021.

b) Selection

The selection is done by a committee composed of four groups of experts (one for each field of study). The members of these groups are not allowed to assess applications submitted by institutions to which they are linked institutionally.
Selection criteria include the applicant’s record of excellence, the institution’s international policy, and the aid partnership policy of MAEDI.
At this point, the aid and cultural relations offices (SCAC) of the French embassies are consulted for their opinion on the applications of individuals from their respective countries.

c) Results

Once complete, the list of successful candidates is published on the Campus France website.

Closing Date

How do I get more information?