Eiffel Scholarship for Indian Students 2027: Stipend, Duration and Nomination

  • Last Updated on: August 5, 2026 by
  • Swapna Kanchikacherla
Eiffel Scholarship for Indian Students
Eiffel Scholarship for Indian Students

The Eiffel scholarship for Indian students pays EUR 1,200 a month at master’s level and EUR 2,100 a month at PhD level, both from January 2026, on the Universite Paris-Saclay France Excellence Eiffel page. Enter a two-year master’s and that is EUR 28,800 across 24 months. Most pages ranking for this award still quote the older EUR 1,181 and EUR 1,700 rates. The rule that decides whether you get any of it is not the amount, though. You cannot apply. A French institution nominates you, and the 2027 call opens around October 2026, so the work that matters starts now.

Written by
Swapna Kanchikacherla
Head of European Desk
Specialises in Germany and France student admissions and visa documentation, with a focus on Campus France, APS, blocked-account and proof-of-funds files.
9 Years, 1100 Visas
Reviewed by
Sridhar Kongara
Managing Director
Mr. Kongara Sridhar, Director of AOEC India, has over 12 years of experience in overseas education consulting, admissions, and student visa guidance.
Over 12 years Experience

Key Takeaways

  • Eiffel pays EUR 1,200 a month (approx. INR 1,31,709) at master’s level and EUR 2,100 (approx. INR 2,30,491) at PhD level, from January 2026.
  • Funding runs 24 months from Master 1 entry, so EUR 28,800 (approx. INR 31.61 lakh); a first-year PhD new to France gets 36 months, so EUR 75,600 (approx. INR 82.98 lakh).
  • Only French institutions may submit a file. Applications sent by students are not assessed.
  • Eiffel pays no tuition, but as a French government grant it exempts you from the EUR 3,950 (approx. INR 4.34 lakh) differentiated non-EU master’s fee.
  • Age caps are 29 at master’s and 35 at PhD, across seven eligible fields.
  • The 2026 cycle closed on 8 January 2026. The 2027 call opens around October 2026.
Table of Contents
Eiffel Scholarship Stipend and Funding Duration in 2026-27 Scroll here ↓ What Eiffel Covers, and the Tuition It Does Not Pay Scroll here ↓ Eiffel Scholarship Eligibility for Indian Students: Age, Nationality and Fields Scroll here ↓ Eiffel Eligibility Traps and Who Should Not Apply Scroll here ↓ How to Get Nominated for the Eiffel Scholarship Scroll here ↓ Eiffel Scholarship Deadlines for the 2027 Session Scroll here ↓ Eiffel or Charpak: which France scholarship fits your profile? Scroll here ↓ Frequently Asked Questions Scroll here ↓ Where this leaves your Eiffel plan Scroll here ↓

Eiffel Scholarship Stipend and Funding Duration in 2026-27

The France Excellence Eiffel allowance is EUR 1,200 (approx. INR 1,31,709) a month at master's level and EUR 2,100 (approx. INR 2,30,491) at doctoral level as of January 2026, published on the EURAXESS notice for the 2026 Eiffel scholarships. Duration decides what that is worth.

Entry pointMonthlyMonths fundedTotal awardIn INR
Master 1 (two-year master’s)EUR 1,20024EUR 28,800INR 31,61,013
Master 2 (final year only)EUR 1,20012EUR 14,400INR 15,80,507
Engineering degreeEUR 1,20012, 24 or 36up to EUR 43,200up to INR 47,41,520
PhD, first year, new to FranceEUR 2,10036EUR 75,600INR 82,97,659
PhD, later-year entryEUR 2,10012 or 18EUR 25,200 to 37,800INR 27,65,886 to 41,48,830

The single biggest variable in what Eiffel is worth to you is whether you enter a master’s at year one or year two: the same monthly figure produces EUR 28,800 or EUR 14,400. Applicants who already hold a first master’s year elsewhere are competing for half the award without realising it.

The EUR 1,181 and EUR 1,700 rates still circulating were correct before January 2026. On a three-year doctorate the gap is about EUR 14,400, roughly a full second year of a master’s award. Campus France keeps the current amounts in a downloadable regulations file rather than on the programme page, so institution pages are the practical place to check them.

What Eiffel Covers, and the Tuition It Does Not Pay

Eiffel does not pay tuition. It covers the monthly allowance plus direct payment of several services, including return travel, per the EURAXESS 2026 notice. The tuition benefit arrives separately: as a French government grant, Eiffel exempts you from the EUR 3,950 (approx. INR 4,33,542) differentiated non-EU master's fee.

Eiffel is a bourse du gouvernement francais (French government grant, usually shortened to BGF). Campus France states that BGF holders pay “no tuition fees, whether differentiated or not”, on its differentiated tuition fees FAQ. A non-EU student at a French public university otherwise pays EUR 3,950 a year for a master’s, against EUR 255 for an EU national, on the Campus France tuition fees page for 2026-2027.

The award therefore has two parts: living costs in cash, and public-university fees removed by exemption. Over a 24-month master’s that exemption adds EUR 7,900 on top of the EUR 28,800 stipend.

The exemption applies only at public institutions under the Ministry of Higher Education. Private business schools and some grandes ecoles set their own fees, so a EUR 20,000 private MSc stays a EUR 20,000 private MSc. Check which category your programme sits in, and see our cost of studying in France for Indian students breakdown for what remains either way.

Eiffel Scholarship Eligibility for Indian Students: Age, Nationality and Fields

Eiffel is open to applicants up to 29 years old at master's level and up to 35 at PhD level, per the Campus France France Excellence Eiffel programme page. French nationals are excluded, including dual nationals holding French citizenship. Seven fields qualify, and a programme outside them cannot be nominated.

The seven fields split in two. Science and technology covers biology and health, ecological transition, mathematics and digital, and engineering sciences. Humanities and social sciences covers history, French language and civilisation; law and political science; and economics and management.

  • Age: hard caps assessed at the selection committee, not guidelines.
  • Nationality: an Indian passport held alongside French citizenship makes you ineligible.
  • Level: master’s and doctorate only. There is no bachelor’s route.
  • Field: your programme must sit inside one of the seven disciplines.

Clearing these bars only puts you in the pool. If you are still mapping which programmes fit your subject, our guide to masters in France for Indian students covers the landscape.

There is no published success rate. Campus France states no annual award count for the programme, and the EURAXESS notice carries none. Any page quoting an acceptance percentage for Eiffel is not sourcing it from the programme, so plan on the eligibility rules and the strength of your file.

Eiffel Eligibility Traps and Who Should Not Apply

The master's route bars candidates already studying in France, while the doctoral route only prioritises applicants arriving from abroad. That asymmetry catches Indian families who move a student to France first and pursue funding afterwards, which reverses the correct order and cannot be undone later.

Four failure modes account for most wasted effort:

  • The already-in-France bar at master’s level. Enrol first and fund later, and you have disqualified yourself.
  • The dual-nationality exclusion. French citizenship rules you out whatever your second passport says.
  • Field drift. A programme that sounds adjacent to one of the seven fields is not inside it, and institutions will not spend a nomination on a file they expect to lose.
  • The age cliff. No appeal, no discretion. Count forward to the selection committee date, not the application date.
Not eligible
Bachelor’s applicants
 

Eiffel starts at master’s level. Look at Charpak and university merit aid instead.

Not eligible
Already enrolled in France
 

The master’s bar applies with no exception. Regional and institutional awards stay open.

Poor fit
Private school applicants needing fee cover
 

The exemption follows public institutions. At a private school you still owe full fees.

None of that closes France to you; it makes Eiffel the wrong instrument. Our overview of scholarships to study in France sets out the alternatives by level and by who runs them.

From our counselling desk: the sequencing error is the one we see repeatedly in Hyderabad and Tirupati. A student takes a place at a French university, arrives, settles in, then asks how to apply for Eiffel from there. At master's level that conversation is over. Decide before you accept an offer, because the award is won on the way in.

How to Get Nominated for the Eiffel Scholarship

Only applications submitted by French higher education institutions are accepted, per Campus France. A file sent by a student, an Indian college, or any foreign institution is not assessed. Winning your host institution's nomination is therefore the entire application, and it runs months ahead of the published deadline.

Secure admission, or a live application, on an eligible programme. Contact that institution’s international office early and say plainly you want to be considered for an Eiffel nomination. Then supply the file: transcripts from Class 12 onward, a CV carrying publications and internships, a statement tying your goal to the programme’s priority field, two academic references, and a research proposal agreed with a supervisor at doctoral level.

Institutions nominate the candidate at the top of the cohort, whose project is specific rather than aspirational, whose subject maps onto a priority field, and who has a faculty member willing to champion the file. A nomination spends the institution’s own credibility, so it goes to whoever is most likely to win.

Doctoral candidates run a different track. A master’s applicant normally goes through Etudes en France; a doctorate sits outside it, on the doctoral-school route with a passeport talent (talent passport) visa and a convention d’accueil (host agreement). Our Campus France application process guide covers the master’s route, which runs parallel to the nomination.

Eiffel Scholarship Deadlines for the 2027 Session

The 2026 cycle opened on 1 October 2025, closed to institutions on 8 January 2026, and published results from 30 March 2026, per the Campus France programme page. No 2027 dates are published yet. The 2027 call is expected to open around October 2026, which sets the planning window now.

Stage2026 cycle (completed)What to do for 2027
Call opens1 October 2025Expect around October 2026
Institution deadline8 January 2026Assume a comparable January date
Results publishedFrom 30 March 2026Expect a comparable spring window
Your internal deadlinen/aNomination file complete before December 2026

These are institution deadlines, not student ones. Your university sets an internal cut-off weeks earlier so it can rank candidates, and never publishes it centrally. Ask the international office. By December the window has effectively closed for anyone who has not made contact.

Eiffel or Charpak: which France scholarship fits your profile?

These two awards cannot be combined. Universite Paris-Saclay states the France Excellence Eiffel cannot be cumulated with any other French government scholarship, and Charpak is one. The choice turns on who submits the file, because Eiffel is institution-nominated and Charpak is applied for directly by the student.

Decision pointEiffelCharpak
Who submitsYour French host institutionYou, through Campus France India
Levels fundedMaster’s and doctorateBachelor’s and master’s level tracks
AudienceAll nationalities except FranceIndian students specifically
Control you holdIndirect: you persuade the institutionDirect: you file the application

The difference is leverage. Eiffel depends on convincing an institution to spend a nomination on you, rewarding a strong record and an early relationship with a department. Charpak puts the file in your own hands. Campus France India lists the tracks on its Charpak scholarships page, and our Charpak scholarship for Indian students guide carries the per-track stipends and age caps.

Funding does not remove the visa requirement either way. A scholarship letter changes what you evidence, not whether you evidence it, per our France student visa proof of funds guide. For the rest of the budget see our cost of living in France figures and our guide to student accommodation in France.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Close to it at a public university, but not by that name. Eiffel pays a living allowance of EUR 1,200 or EUR 2,100 a month (approx. INR 1.32 lakh or INR 2.30 lakh) and no tuition. As a French government grant it then exempts you from the EUR 3,950 differentiated fee.

Twelve months if you enter at Master 2 and 24 months at Master 1, per Universite Paris-Saclay. Engineering degrees run 12, 24 or 36 months by entry year. A first-year PhD student new to France receives 36 months; other doctoral entries receive 12 or 18.

No. Campus France states that only applications submitted by French higher education institutions are accepted. A file sent by a student, or by an Indian college on a student’s behalf, is rejected before assessment. Winning your host institution’s nomination is the whole application.

They are quoting the pre-2026 rate. Universite Paris-Saclay and the EURAXESS notice both publish EUR 1,200 at master’s level and EUR 2,100 at PhD level as of January 2026. On a three-year doctorate the stale figure understates the award by roughly EUR 14,400.

Around October 2026. The 2026 cycle opened on 1 October 2025, closed to institutions on 8 January 2026, and published results from 30 March 2026. No 2027 dates are published yet, so treat October as a planning marker rather than a confirmed deadline.

Where this leaves your Eiffel plan

Entering at Master 1 rather than Master 2 doubles the award to EUR 28,800, and the exemption removes another EUR 3,950 a year. None of it is reachable by filling in a form. You reach it by persuading a French institution, in a window opening around October 2026 that effectively shuts in December. If you are still choosing a destination, our study in France hub covers the wider picture. If France is settled, build a shortlist inside the seven fields and email each international office.

Sources

All figures verified on 4 August 2026.

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