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 opportunity to the 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.

Benefits

• For Master’s level studies, the Eiffel scholarship includes a monthly allowance
• Can be awarded for 12-36 months
• For PhD level studies, the Eiffel scholarship includes a monthly allowance of €1,400 and is awarded for a maximum of ten months
• The programme meets various expenses including international return trip, social security cover, and cultural activity
• Scholarship holders may also receive an additional housing allowance, under certain conditions.

Eligibility

• Nationality: This programme is reserved for candidates of non-French nationality. Candidates with two nationalities, one of which is French, are not eligible.
• Age: For Master’s level, the candidate must be at most 30 years old on the date of the selection committee; born on or after 12 March 1987. For Doctoral level, the candidate must be at most 35 years old on the date of the selection committee; born on or after 12 March 1982.
• Origin of applications: Only applications submitted by French educational establishments are accepted. These establishments undertake to enrol scholarship holders on the course for which they have been selected. Applications submitted by any other means shall not be considered. Furthermore, any candidate nominated by more than one establishment shall be disqualified.
• Courses of study: Scholarships are for students wishing to enrol on a master’s course, including at an engineering school, and for PhD students. The Eiffel Programme does not apply to French-run master’s courses abroad, as non-PhD scholarship holders must complete at least 75% of their course in France. It does not apply to training under an apprenticeship contract or a professional training contract either.
• Combination with other scholarships: Foreign students who, at the time of application, have already been awarded a French government scholarship under another programme are not eligible, even if the scholarship in question does not include social security cover.
• For Eiffel Master Scholarship:  No application will be accepted for any student who applied previously but was rejected, even if the application is submitted by a different establishment or in another field of study. Students who have already been awarded an Eiffel scholarship at master’s level are not eligible to re-apply at master’s level.
• For Eiffel PhD Scholarship: Establishments may nominate a candidate who was previously awarded an Eiffel scholarship at master’s level for a scholarship at PhD level. Candidates who have already been awarded an Eiffel scholarship once during their PhD cannot be awarded it for a second time. No application will be accepted for any student who applied previously but was rejected, even if the application is submitted by a different establishment or in another field of study.
• Language skills: When pre-selecting non-French-speaking candidates, establishments must make sure that their language skills meet the requirements of the relevant course of study.
• Students undertaking a course of study abroad take priority over those already living in France.