Bursaries for foreign students

Étudiants, Chercheurs

French public institutes and the Erasmus+ programme offer a large number of scholarships for foreign students to help them finance their studies in France and Europe.

Campus Bourses: the indispensable tool for finding funding

Campus Bourses (Campus Scholarships) provides information on the scholarships offered to foreign students. The tool lists all of the assistance provided by the States (French and foreign), regional authorities, companies, foundations and institutes of higher education. Filter your search by nationality, field and level of studies to find the assistance that corresponds to your profile.

The Foreign Ministry's scholarships

The French Foreign Ministry awards many different scholarships to foreign students. 25% of these scholarships are directly financed by the Ministry in the framework of Eiffel (for Master's or Doctoral level studies) or Major programmes (for the best foreign students who have graduated from French high schools abroad). The rest are provided by France embassies abroad.

Find out directly from the Campus France office for your country to learn which scholarship programmes you are eligible for.

EIFFEL SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM OF EXCELLENCE

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 25 years old from developing countries at master’s level, and applicants up to 30 years old from developing and industrialized countries at PhD level.

2024 Campaign Timeline

Opening of the call for applications: week of September 18, 2023
Deadline for the reception of applications by Campus France: January 10, 2024 included.
Publication of results: week of 1 April, 2024
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Regulations

Eiffel Programme rules – 2024 Session

Only applications submitted by French higher education institutions are accepted.

You are an institution and you have already participated in the Eiffel program => You should have received an email concerning the download of application files. If that is not the case, please contact us.

You are an institution participating for the first time in the Eiffel Program => Please Contact us in order download the application files.

You are a student interested in participating in the Eiffel program : click her

Scholarships search engine

The Ministry of Higher Education's scholarships

The French Ministry of Higher education and Research also awards scholarships to some foreign students, based on social criteria. To be eligible, students must have been residing in France for at least two years and be paying taxes in France. The Ministry also finances doctoral contracts managed by the Doctoral schools.

In France, public research is split between institutes of higher education and public organisations such as the CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research) which covers all fields of research, the IRD (Institute for Research and Development), the ADEME (Environmental and Energy Control Agency) and the IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea). In partnership with the regions, these public bodies finance research allocations for doctoral and post-doctoral students.

Finally, some institutes of higher education offer scholarship programmes to enrolled foreign students. To find out more, contact their international relations department.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FRENCH LANGUAGE TEACHERS

Every year, the French Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Maldives offers scholarships in Sri Lanka, in India or in France to French language teachers teaching in Sri Lanka and the Maldives in schools and universities. These scholarships aim to provide the teachers an opportunity to improve and update the teaching methodologies for teaching French as a foreign language. For more information, contact scac.colombo-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr or shevanthis@yahoo.com

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FRENCH LANGUAGE STUDENTS

Every year, the French Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Maldives awards scholarships for French Language Students, giving them the opportunity to train in France or online. For more information, contact scac.colombo-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES RESEARCHERS

The French Embassy is also encouraging Sri Lankan and Maldivian researchers to take part in the different Social Sciences workshops organised in the South Asia region by leading French research institutes and local partners. Through its scholarship program the French Embassy give those researchers (graduates, PhD students, post-graduates) the opportunity to attend programmes of intensive and multidisciplinary training workshops addressing theoretical and methodological issues in social sciences research. Those events provides each and everyone with the opportunity of sharing experiences and research ideas. For more information, contact scac.colombo-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr

Scholarships from regional authorities

French regions and towns allocate scholarships to foreign students enrolled in programmes in their region. They also award doctoral and postdoctoral grants managed by the institutes of higher education and research. Regional scholarships may also be allocated to foreign students as part of exchange agreements with foreign institutes.

The Erasmus+ mobility scholarships for foreign students

Erasmus + is a European Union programme that supports education, training, youth and sport. Through it, over two million students can benefit from a mobility bursary in Europe: it covers the 2014-2020 period, with a budget of 14.7 billion Euros.

The Erasmus Mundus joint Master's offer is a study programme that awards scholarships to the world's best students for one or two years, regardless of their field of studies. To receive one, these students must take their master's programme in at least two countries participating in the programme. Several French institutes of higher education offer joint Master's programmes.

In the framework of bilateral agreements between institutes of higher education, Erasmus+ also offers mobility scholarships from and to France. They cover removal and accommodation costs. Find out more from the institute you are enrolled in.

The former Erasmus programmes are still active

Some joint doctoral programmes are still funded by the old Erasmus Mundus programme and still award scholarships. Nonetheless, European joint doctorates (EJD) that were set up in the framework of Horizon 2020, the European Union programme for Research and Innovation, will progressively replace them.

Some partnerships that came under the old Erasmus Mundus Action 2 programme still offer mobility scholarships. Many projects associate at least one French institute.