We list 3 masters Scholarships for Nigerian Students in France, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 3 of them are fully funded. 2 state eligibility that includes Nigerian applicants.
United Kingdom
30
Australia
20
China
11
United States
11
Canada
8
Sweden
8
Belgium
7
Italy
7
Japan
7
Switzerland
7
United Arab Emirates
7
Netherlands
6
Russia
6
Germany
5
New Zealand
5
Saudi Arabia
5
Thailand
5
Brazil
4
Ireland
4
Turkey
4
Denmark
3
France
Singapore
3
Austria
2
Norway
2
Qatar
2
Written from the 3 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 3 master's scholarships in France that are open to Nigerian students. Every one of the three is labelled Fully Funded. They are master's-level awards, offered by French institutions, and they sit alongside two bachelor's awards that also appear in this collection but are not the focus here.
The providers named on this list are Sciences Po, Sciences Po University and Université Paris-Saclay. Each appears once. If you are searching for a funded route into a French master's programme and you hold a Nigerian first degree, this is the shortlist to work through.
Of the three awards, 2 are open to Nigerian applicants. Neither of those two names Nigeria or the West African region in its eligibility text — instead, both carry no nationality restriction. That is the cleaner situation: you are not competing for a reserved slot, you are competing against the whole applicant pool.
The third award does not state its eligibility on the award page. That does not mean you are excluded, and it does not mean you qualify. It means you have to check the provider's own terms before you spend money on a transcript courier.
On the Nigerian side, the pathway is straightforward. You hold a first degree or HND — B.Sc, B.A, B.Eng, LLB, MBBS or HND. These are taught and research master's programmes. Awards of this kind usually state a minimum class of degree, and "upper second" corresponds to Second Class Upper (2:1) on a Nigerian transcript. Whether an HND is accepted is decided by each university, not by this page. If you hold an HND, confirm with the institution before you apply.
All three are fully funded, so the expectation is that tuition and living costs are covered rather than topped up. Beyond that label, the brief is thin on detail, and it is better to say so than to guess.
Of the three awards, 1 names tuition in its own text and 1 names travel. Those are the only two benefits stated in writing on this list. Nothing here states a stipend amount, a monthly figure, an accommodation allowance or a value in euros, because none of that is recorded. Treat "fully funded" as the provider's own description and read the individual award page for the breakdown.
The two awards with durations on record run as follows: one lists a master's of 1.5–2 years, the other a master's of 2 years. Plan your funding and your accommodation around the longer figure, not the shorter one.
Only one requirement is stated across the three awards: letters of recommendation, named by 1 award. That is a light paper trail on paper, but recommendation letters are the item Nigerian applicants most often underestimate.
Start early. Ask a lecturer or supervisor who taught you at final-year level, and ask in person before you send an email. Give them your CV, your transcript and a short note on what you intend to study. French institutions generally expect the letter to come from an academic who can speak to your research ability, not from an employer or a family contact.
Beyond that, expect the usual master's file: transcripts, degree certificate or statement of result, a passport data page, and a personal statement. The brief does not confirm which of these each award requires, so check each award page individually. Budget for transcript fees from your Nigerian institution and for courier costs, and start the transcript request before you start the essay — Nigerian registry queues are the slowest part of the process.
France is not an English-speaking country, and the brief does not record an English-test requirement or a waiver for any of the three awards. Do not assume either way.
What is worth knowing is how the question usually resolves. Programmes taught in English typically ask for a test score unless your prior degree was taught in English, and many French institutions accept a medium-of-instruction letter from a Nigerian university in place of IELTS or TOEFL. Programmes taught in French will want French proficiency instead. Because none of that is stated on this list, confirm it with the admissions office of the specific programme before you pay for a test slot.
None of the three awards carries a confirmed date on this page, and none is marked as still open. All three are recorded as undated. There is no busiest month to plan around and no next deadline to name, so this is not a list you can schedule from.
Two of the three do show a pattern in their deadline text. The Emile Boutmy Scholarship and the Chalhoub Scholarship both indicate a master's deadline of December 1, with the undergraduate route falling later. The Université Paris-Saclay Scholarships show a candidate selection deadline of May 5.
Read those as signals, not as dates. The text is truncated and the intake year matters. Open each award page, confirm the cycle you are applying for, and put the date in your own calendar with a two-week buffer. December 1 in particular falls in the middle of a Nigerian semester, so a master's application to Sciences Po has to be drafted before the end of November.
France is not the largest destination for Nigerian students, but it is a real one. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 772 Nigerian students were studying in France in 2024. That places Nigeria 22nd among the countries sending students there.
Put plainly: you will not be the only Nigerian on campus, but you will not be one of a crowd either. That has practical consequences. There is no large Nigerian student network in most French cities to hand you a room or a job lead, so budget for the first two months out of your own pocket and settle your accommodation before you fly.
Work through the three award pages above in order. For each one, answer four questions before you write anything: does it name a nationality restriction, what does it say it covers, what documents does it ask for, and what is the deadline for the intake you want.
Two of the three are open to you with no nationality restriction. Start with those. Request your transcript and your recommendation letter in the same week, because both move slowly and neither is in your control once you have asked. If an award does not state its eligibility, email the provider and ask directly rather than assuming you are eligible or assuming you are not.
Then check the deadline text against the provider's own page. A December 1 master's deadline and a May 5 selection deadline are months apart, and the two Sciences Po awards share a date. If you are applying to both, one set of documents can serve both files — but each application still has to be submitted separately.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2024.
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