Scholarships / bourses¶

General Information¶

This page references some scholarships (bourses) that are available to some candidates, and some help on how to apply. In 2025-26, the referent professor for scholarships is To Be Announced (it's too early for scholarships anyway) -- you can write to ai.master-informatique@universite-paris-saclay.fr If you want to get a scholarship, you have to help us help you: We are not the one granting the scholarships. What we do is just to pre-select and transfer the best applications to the appropriate committees. It's much easier if you write down everything that is needed.

Informal information: In 2022-23, we got several Digicosme scholarships (program now discontinued), some IDEX, and also one Eiffel. In the previous years we were less lucky and had only 1 or 2 Digicosme. In 2023-24, we got a good numbers of scholarships (including a number from other country embassies or others). Eiffel scholarships are extremely hard to get, we only got 1 for an M1 admitted 2022 (M1 of 2022-23), and again one in 2024-25.

How to Help Us Help You¶

How to help us help you: When we select the best applicants for scholarships and push their application towards the scholarship committee, we submit a short biography of the applicant, stating their strong points (academic situation and achievements, papers published, applications developed, etc). You can help us pre-select you by writing yourself these 3-5 lines of bio, in the 3rd person. If your cover letter is well written, this short bio of your "outstanding achievements" should appear somewhere (but written at the first person). Write this summary inside your cover letter ("lettre de motivation") (when you apply through inception)

An extensive list of scholarships to study in France (not just Saclay) is available here: https://www.campusfrance.org/fr/ressource/campusbourses-le-catalogue-en-ligne-des-programmes-de-bourse They may not all be compatible with our masters/your case/Saclay university.

Available Scholarships¶

The dates below are not necessarily always updated.

General remarks: - There are several merit-based scholarships from Paris-Saclay and Campus-France (see below). In general, we pre-select candidates, and submit their application to the actual committee on their behalf. - For IDEX grants, you must submit your application to the M1/M2 before applying for a scholarship, so that we can consider your full file. This may force you to apply early. The Eiffel scholarship is even earlier (the deadline for the scholarship application may be before the opening of the inception platform), so that your Eiffel scholarship is conditioned on being later accepted in the Masters (the fact we would support you does not entail automatic acceptance in the Master). - Internships in research laboratories must be done in one of the Université Paris-Saclay research laboratories. In short, this money is not given for nothing: it's given to attract the best students at Saclay and keep them here (not just for study, also for Internships and PhD). - Often, if you get a grant in M1, the grant is renewable 1 year if you are accepted in M2 the following year. (not for Eiffel)

1) Sacl-AI School scholarships:

See https://dataia.eu/en/saclai-school and more specifically, see https://www.dataia.eu/formations/mixtai-programme-de-bourses

There is also Tutor-AI which may help you make some money by tutoring younger students in AI-related fields.

Applications are typically opened in early May, with a deadline of very early June. Selection would happen shortly after, i.e. early June, most likely.

2) IDEX scholarships (for 2027-28, please check their website for exact dates)

You cannot precisely apply to these scholarships. Instead, the admission committee (to decide whether you are admitted in the Master or not), i.e. us, decide whether to push your file for an IDEX scholarship, or not.

Important: IDEX scholarships are only available to students who are not French nationals and who are not currently studying in France at the time of application.

So, if you are in need for a scholarship, here’s what you can do:

Check out https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/en/admission/bourses-et-aides-financieres/international-masters-scholarships-program-idex to see if you’re interested.
Check that the deadline has not passed yet. In 2026, our internal deadline was March 25. Expect a similar date in 2027 — check this page and the IDEX website for the exact date.
If you’re interested, check whether you fulfill the conditions: (see Eligibility criteria at idex) [note: “Students admitted to a Université Paris-Saclay Master’s programme delivered by one of the following institutions: AgroParisTech, CentraleSupelec, ENS Paris-Saclay, INSTN-CEA, IOGS, UEVE,UPSaclay, UVSQ. Among these students, only those who answer one of the following criteria are eligible to apply:”)-> This one, you will check, because this Master is in UPSaclay: so if we accept you in, you check this box]
Apply to our master and submit your full application before the IDEX deadline (even if M2 applications are still open after that date). You need to have your complete file submitted so that we can review it, accept you, and consider you for the scholarship. We cannot push incomplete files.
Contact us by email before the deadline at ai.master-informatique@universite-paris-saclay.fr. This is a simple email containing:
- That you are interested in the IDEX scholarship
- Which year you are applying for (M1 or M2)
- Your CV
- A short explanation of why you are even more exceptional than all the exceptional students we admit to this master
- Why the scholarship is important for you
- A short bio written in the 3rd person about your outstanding achievements (3-5 lines)
If you are pre-selected (by us), you’ll receive an email from Université Paris-Saclay: “Only students who receive an email from Université Paris-Saclay inviting them to apply for a Université Paris-Saclay IDEX scholarship will be able to submit an application.”
Once pre-selected, you’ll be able to apply for the IDEX scholarship yourself. See the IDEX webpage, section Application Procedure, for exact deadlines.

3) Eiffel international scholarships:

You can (pre-)apply through the Paris-Saclay website: https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/admission/bourses-et-aides-financieres/bourses-eiffel. The internal deadline is typically in November (check their website for the exact 2026-27 date). You can only apply if you are NOT in France in the previous year. For all questions, please contact: bourse.eiffel@universite-paris-saclay.fr or bourse.eiffel@u-psud.fr

To apply for Eiffel if you study in our Master (in Saclay), visit: https://www.universite-paris-saclay.fr/en/admission/bourses-et-aides-financieres/eiffel-scholarship-programme (the campus france website is more generic and less helpful than this page, which is tailored for Saclay students)

Full details of the eiffel program (if link is broken, visit campusfrance.org) : https://www.campusfrance.org/system/files/medias/documents/2020-10/Vademecum_Eiffel_2021_en.pdf Informal information: this scholarship is extremely competitive, and the deadline is very early.

4) Charpak international scholarships:

The Charpak program is reserved to Indian nationals.
It includes a living allowance of 700 euros per month, a tuition waiver, and other benefits.
It is conditioned on attaching a letter of acceptance to our master, which we cannot deliver until July or so, for first time entry students. So this will concern mainly M2 students, presumably.

5) Netherlands

If you are from Netherlands (resident or Nationality, we don't know yet), this country (Netherlands) has just started a Scholarship program for you to come study in France. More details soon (hopefully in 2026 we will know more about this, maybe even have a website to point to?)

6) Other scholarships

Consult the directory of scholarships on campus france.

As an M1 student, can I get a grant to study abroad?

Yes, this is called a "bourse de mobilité sortante".