France: Campus France, the Eiffel programme and the student account

Campus France

Campus France is the state agency through which international students are received. It gathers scholarship programmes, calls for applications and practical sections: visa, accommodation, budget, the compulsory student contribution.

The agency has country offices, including one in Moldova. That matters more than it seems: part of the procedure goes through the local office, and that is where to ask about deadlines.

The Eiffel programme

The Eiffel programme was established by the French ministry for Europe and foreign affairs so that French higher education institutions could attract strong foreign students to their master's and doctoral programmes. Hence a practical consequence to settle before applying: the work in this call goes through the institution rather than through the applicant alone, and the announcement has its own deadline.

The programme has age limits, different for master's and doctoral level, and priority fields of study. This is the case where a formal criterion rules a candidate out before anyone looks at the grades — so read the conditions first.

The student account

The state student services account is a separate line and about something else entirely: the social grant and student housing. A single social file is submitted through it, and places in student residences are allocated through it as well.

Three things worth knowing in advance:

1. Housing and the grant go in one file — and it has to be submitted inside the allotted window, not when convenient.
2. Housing is allocated in waves, and whoever is late falls into the next one.
3. The compulsory student contribution is paid separately and has nothing to do with the grant.

The order

First work out which line is yours at all: the ministry's call, the university's own money, or social support. They do not exclude one another, but they are submitted in different places on different calendars, and none of those places will tell you about the other two.