Application Deadline: January 8th 2021
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.
Eligibility
- Only foreign nationals are eligible to apply for a scholarship from the French Government.
- In the case of dual nationality applicants, those with French nationality are ineligible.
- for master’s courses, candidates must be no older than 30 on the date of the selection committee meeting,March 2020; at PhD level, candidates must be no older than 35 on the date of the selection committee meeting, March 2020.
- 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.
- 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.
- Educational establishments that shortlist non-French speaking applicants must ensure that their level of French is sufficient to enable them to integrate satisfactorily into the anticipated course
- 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.
- Eiffel PhD scholarships: 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.
- Eiffel master’s scholarships: 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.
- 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.
Benefits of the scholarship
- Tuition fees are not covered by the Eiffel Program. Educational institutions are expected to provide students the best financial support..
- Students admitted to public educational institutions are, as French government scholarship holders, exempted from enrolment fees.
- Master’s level : Eiff The Eiffel scholarship consist of a monthly allowance of €1,181 (a maintenance allowance of €1,031 and a monthly stipend of €150). In addition, the program covers various benefits including a round-trip international ticket, Health insurance and cultural activities.
Students may also benefit from a housing allowance.
- PhD level : The Eiffel scholarship includes a monthly allowance of €1,400. In addition, the program covers various benefits including a round-trip international ticket, Health insurance and cultural activities.
Students may also benefit from a housing allowance.
Payment modalities : The scholarship is paid monthly by wire-transfer on a French account that the student will open at the start of the academic program.
The bank account number (IBAN, BIC) must be communicated to Campus France.
Accommodation
You may ask Campus France to help you find accommodation in CROUS; or private student residences (Île-de-France region only).
Housing allowance
- Private housing: If you are not living in a university residence but in private housing, you can benefit, at your request, from an additional housing allowance. You just need to send the receipt of the first rent payment mentioning your name and address and a copy of the housing contract within the 3 months following signature of the housing contract.
- Housing allowance amount: The amount of allowance, regardless of the location, is €115 per month.
- Special case of students in Paris and the Paris region: since October 1st, 2003, students housed by Campus France in France in a regulated residence cannot benefit from the €115 housing allowance. The rent is already partly subsidized by the Eiffel program.
The amount of the subsidy depends on the residence.
- Termination of the housing allowance: If you decide to leave France during your studies or internships and leave your housing in France, the housing allowance will be suspended.
- During a gap year, the housing allowance will also be suspended.
Travel
- The international flight ticket to France is covered by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs only for scholarship recipients living out of France at the time of their selection. Campus France is in charge of providing the flight ticket.
- Special case: For PhD students who are allowed to divide their scholarship in several stays or periods, only one round trip will be provided.
The travel benefit is provided as follows:
- International transport: a round-trip international ticket Country of origin – France;
- National transport: a train ticket to the first study location; a train ticket from the last study location to the airport for the return to the country of origin;
- Local transport: reimbursement of up to a maximum of €50 of the trip between the airport or train station and the first study location (taxi or public transport);
The student has a maximum of one year after the end of the scholarship to assert this right to repatriation.
Purchase of the return ticket by Campus France or reimbursement if the ticket is purchased by the student. The reimbursement must respect an average costs criteria which varies according to the geographical zone
HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE
Campus France provides its own Health insurance for the time needed to register to French Social Security.
Students must register on the following website https://etudiant-etranger.ameli.fr/#/ In order to benefit from the French Social Security.
The website is available in French and English.
European students with a European Health Insurance Card do not need to do anything else, even if they start their studies in France in the academic year 2019/20. They continue to have access to healthcare in France and their medical expenses can be partly reimbursed as if they were in their home country.
In addition, it is mandatory to register in a students’ Mutual health insurance plan. Campus France will refund up to €264
Selection Criteria: The selection criteria are as follows:
- the excellence of the candidate, as demonstrated by his or her university career so far and the originality of his or her research subject;
- the international policy of the establishment nominating the candidate, its action in the geographical area in question, the excellence of the host department, the establishment’s compatibility with the candidate being nominated, its efforts to publicise the Eiffel Programme and its continued support of scholarship holders, especially through a partnership with France Alumni (https://www.francealumni.fr/en);
- the cooperation and partnership policy of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, and in particular, the priority given to certain countries for this Programme.
The committee marks each candidate for these three criteria and calculates a total score out of 50. It sets a minimum threshold for admissibility and distributes the scholarships as follows, depending on the number available:
- at least 70% of the scholarships are awarded to the highest-scoring candidates;
- the remaining scholarships are distributed among the establishments that have not received one, for candidates who achieved scores above the minimum threshold.
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 here
Contact
Campus France – Programme Eiffel
28 rue de la Grange-aux-Belles
75010 Paris
Contact us
Timeline:
- Opening of the call for applications: week of September 28, 2020
- Deadline for the reception of applications by Campus France: January 8th 2021.
- Publication of results: week of March 22, 2021
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the French Government Eiffel Excellence Scholarship Programme 2021/2022