Bachelor in France: Admission, Fees & Application

About the Licence: France’s Bachelor Degree

How long is a Licence?

A French Licence takes three years — six semesters and 180 ECTS credits. It is the standard undergraduate degree at every French public university, and it gives direct access to a Master’s programme.

The undergraduate qualifications, compared

How teaching is organised

A French semester mixes three formats: cours magistraux (large lectures), travaux dirigés (tutorial groups of twenty to forty students), and travaux pratiques (laboratory or practical sessions). Assessment combines continuous marks with end-of-semester examinations, and you must validate each semester’s credits to progress. Marking is out of 20, and 10 is the pass mark — a system that surprises students used to percentage grading, where a mark of 14 out of 20 is genuinely good.

What the first year is really like

The first year of a Licence is demanding for international students, and not only because of the language. Teaching assumes a level of independence that many school systems do not prepare you for: attendance at lectures is often not tracked, reading is not always assigned explicitly, and nobody chases you. Students who do well tend to join a study group early and use the tutorial sessions actively rather than passively.

Choosing a University and Programme

How do I choose?

Work through three filters in order. First your subject — French Licence programmes are specialised from the first year, so you are choosing a discipline, not a general degree. Second your French level, since undergraduate teaching is overwhelmingly in French. Third your budget city, because the difference between Paris and a regional city can exceed the tuition fee itself.

Selective or open access?

Some Licence programmes are sélective, with a limited number of places and ranked applications; others are open access to any holder of a qualifying school-leaving certificate. Programmes in psychology, law, and the health sciences are typically the most oversubscribed. The programme page will state which regime applies.

University or grande école?

For a first degree, most international students enter a public university. Grandes écoles usually recruit either after two years of preparatory classes or through their own post-secondary entrance procedures, and their fees are set independently of the national scale. Some engineering schools offer five-year integrated programmes that admit directly after secondary school, including a small number aimed at international applicants.

How to check a programme is genuine

A programme that leads to a diplôme national will appear on the official platforms — Parcoursup, Mon Master, or the Campus France catalogue — and the institution will appear on the ministry’s list of recognised establishments. Private institutions can be excellent, but “recognised by the state” and “awarding a national degree” are two different things, and the difference matters if you later want your qualification accepted for a Master’s or a visa.

Eligibility for a French Licence

The basic requirement is a school-leaving qualification that would admit you to university in your own country, plus proof of French at level B2 for French-taught programmes. France has no single national entrance examination for university admission.

Is my school certificate accepted?

France assesses foreign secondary qualifications case by case rather than through a central equivalence database. The French Embassy, your local Campus France office, or the university itself decides whether your certificate is comparable to the French baccalauréat. The DAP application file exists precisely to carry out that assessment, and the questions it asks — subjects studied, hours taught, marks obtained — tell you what is being weighed.

The French language requirement

For French-taught degrees you will normally need a DELF B2 diploma or an equivalent TCF or TEF score. This is the requirement that blocks more otherwise strong applicants than any other. A few exemptions exist: applicants who completed their secondary education in French, and holders of certain French-medium school qualifications, are often excused the test.

What if I am not at B2 yet?

You have three realistic options, and all of them require planning:

• Study French at home and re-apply next cycle. Reaching B2 from a standing start typically takes several hundred hours of instruction, so this is a year-long project, not a summer one.
• Enrol in a French-language university programme in France first. Many universities run intensive language diplomas that lead into their degree programmes.
• Apply to an English-taught programme. Realistic at Master’s level, much harder at undergraduate level, and usually more expensive.

A worked example

Consider an applicant with a strong science school-leaving certificate and B1 French who wants a physics Licence. Applying immediately means near-certain rejection on language grounds. Spending one year reaching B2 with a DELF diploma, then applying through the correct route, converts the same file into a competitive one — and costs less than a failed year abroad.

How to Apply: Three Routes and a Timeline

Which route you use depends on your nationality and where you live when you apply — not on which university you want.

The DAP procedure in detail

DAP is the preliminary admission request for entry into the first year of a Licence. It comes in colour-coded files:

• White file — first year at a university
• Yellow file — first year at a school of architecture
• Green file — international students already living in France

You name up to three universities in order of preference, and all three examine your file simultaneously. The file includes your school certificates and transcripts with certified translations, your language test result, and a statement of your study project. Campus France advises opening the file in the autumn preceding the academic year you are targeting.

Step by step

1. About a year ahead: prepare.Assess your French level and book a DELF or TCF test; identify programmes and check whether they are selective; gather transcripts and start translations.
2. Open your file on the right platform.Études en France account, DAP file, or Parcoursup according to the table above. Autumn is the right moment for DAP.
3. Complete the academic file.Transcripts, certified translations, language proof, motivation letter. EEF applicants also attend an interview at their Campus France office.
4. Receive decisions in the spring.Universities publish their responses through the platform. Missing the reply deadline is treated as a refusal, so diarise it the moment it is published.
5. Apply for the VLS-TS student visa.Book the consulate appointment as soon as admission is confirmed, and show at least €615 per month of resources for your stay.
6. Pay the CVEC and enrol.The €105 contribution is paid online; your institution cannot register you without the certificate.
7. Arrive and validate your visa.Validate the VLS-TS on the ANEF portal within three months of arriving, and pay the residence tax stamp.

What sinks otherwise good applications

• Starting too late. The academic stage alone runs for months before any visa appointment.
• Language proof left to the end. Test sessions fill up and results take weeks to arrive.
• Untranslated or uncertified documents. Certified translation takes time and money; budget for both.
• A study project that does not follow from your school record. Committees look for coherence between what you have studied and what you are asking to study.

Studying in French or English

Can I do a Licence entirely in English?

Rarely at a public university. English-taught undergraduate programmes exist, but they are concentrated in private institutions, business schools, and a small number of international bachelor programmes — and they cost considerably more than the €2,902 public rate.

Must I learn French?

For a public-university Licence, yes, and B2 is the working minimum rather than a comfortable level. Lectures move quickly, note-taking in a second language is exhausting at first, and examinations are written in French. Students who arrive at B2 and keep studying the language usually reach a comfortable C1 by graduation — which is also what makes them employable in France afterwards.

Practical ways to keep improving

Most universities run free or subsidised French courses for international students through their language centres. Beyond that, the things that work are unglamorous: living with French speakers rather than only with other internationals, taking a part-time job that forces you to speak, and joining a student association in your first weeks rather than your second year.

Fees, Budget and Scholarships

What will I pay?

Non-EU students enrolling for the first time in a Licence at a public institution pay €2,902 per year; EU, EEA and Swiss students pay €178. Everyone pays the €105 CVEC. Private institutions set their own fees, generally from about €6,000 to €18,000 or more per year.

Who is exempt from the higher fee?

• Residents of Québec
• Holders of a long-term resident permit, and students attached to a French tax household for more than two years
• Refugees and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, and their children
• Students in a classe préparatoire who are also enrolled in a university Licence
• Holders of a French government scholarship, who receive an automatic full waiver

A recent decree tightened these rules considerably. Students who already held a waiver keep it for the rest of their current degree cycle provided they stay at the same institution.

What should I budget each month?

Worked example. A student in Toulouse paying €400 for a CROUS room, €250 for food, €35 for a student transport pass and €120 for phone, insurance and leisure spends about €805 a month. The same lifestyle in central Paris, where rent alone commonly exceeds €700, costs closer to €1,350 — a difference of roughly €5,500 across a ten-month academic year, which is more than double the annual tuition.

Housing benefit

International students in France can generally apply for housing assistance (aide personnalisée au logement) through the family allowance fund, which reduces the effective rent for eligible tenants. It is applied for after you arrive and have a lease in your name — factor it in as relief later in the year rather than as money available on day one.

Can I work while studying?

Yes — up to 964 hours a year, roughly 20 hours a week, at no less than the national minimum wage. University services, libraries and cafeterias are among the most common student employers, and campus jobs have the advantage of schedules built around teaching.

Living as a Student in France

How do I find accommodation?

Apply to CROUS, the public student-services network, as early as you can. Its residences are the cheapest option in every city and demand far exceeds supply. In parallel, look at private studio flats, shared flats (colocation), and private student residences.

Most French landlords ask for a garant — a guarantor resident in France who undertakes to pay if you cannot. International students rarely have one, which is exactly why the state-backed Visale guarantee scheme exists; arranging it before you start viewing properties saves weeks.

Health cover

Registration with the French health system is free for international students and is done online after you arrive. It reimburses a large share of medical costs. Many students add a low-cost complementary insurance (mutuelle) to cover the remainder, particularly for dental and optical care.

Banking and paperwork

You will need a French bank account for rent, wages and housing benefit. Opening one requires proof of address and your student certificate, which is one reason accommodation should be settled first. Keep multiple certified copies of every document — French administration asks for the same papers repeatedly.

Student life and the CVEC

The €105 you pay funds campus sport, culture, health and social services, so use them. Student associations are the fastest route into university life, and CROUS canteens serve subsidised meals at a fixed low price — one of the most effective ways to keep a tight food budget under control.

After Your Licence

Can I stay in France after a Bachelor’s?

The twelve-month job-search permit is aimed at Master’s-level graduates and holders of a licence professionnelle, so a standard three-year Licence alone does not usually qualify. In practice, most international students continue into a Master’s in France, which then opens the post-study route.

Continuing to a Master’s

A French Licence gives you direct access to the Master’s application round. Applications for the first year of a Master’s are made through the Mon Master platform or Études en France, depending on where you are living at the time — see the Master’s in France guide. Because Master’s admission is decided on subject fit, the modules you choose during your Licence shape the programmes that will accept you.

If you are heading toward research

A Licence is the first step on a route that runs through a research-track Master’s to a funded doctorate. It is worth seeing early what that world looks like: the UpperCareers jobs board lists postdoctoral, faculty and PhD positions from universities worldwide, and the Supervisor Finder shows which researchers are active in your subject at each institution.

Official Websites for Undergraduate Applicants

Every eligibility, fee and deadline fact in this guide can be checked on these government and publicly funded sites.

Every site above is run by a French ministry, a public agency, or a publicly funded body. Where these sites and this guide ever differ, the official site is right.

Frequently Asked Questions