France

EU/EEA citizens apply the same way as French students, through the national platforms described below.

First year of a licence – Parcoursup. All applications for the first year of a bachelor's programme go through the national platform Parcoursup. In the 2026 session the dates were:

• 17 December 2025 – programmes published,
• 19 January – 12 March 2026 – creating your account and entering your choices (vœux),
• by 1 April 2026 – completing your file and confirming your choices,
• 2 June – 11 July 2026 – main phase, with offers from institutions arriving on a rolling basis; the supplementary phase ran until 10 September.

Check the dates of the 2027 session on the Parcoursup website before it starts. You upload your school leaving certificate, grades and a certificate from your school; you enter your grades in the grading scale of the country where you studied.

Master's – Mon Master. For the first year of a master's programme you apply through Mon Master (more than 3,500 programmes). In 2026 applications were accepted from 17 February to 16 March, the main phase ran from 3 to 16 June and the supplementary phase from 19 June to 19 July. You can submit up to 15 applications for regular programmes and 15 for work-study programmes (alternance).

For the 2nd and 3rd year of a licence and for doctoral studies there is no common procedure – you apply directly to the institution.

Students from outside the EU/EEA who live in one of the 73 countries and territories covered by the Études en France procedure apply through Campus France's online platform, which handles both applications to institutions and the steps leading up to the visa. If you want to start the first year of a licence with a foreign school leaving certificate, you usually submit a preliminary admission request (DAP) – for entry in 2026 the window was 1 October to 15 December 2025. So start about a year in advance.