We list 2 scholarships Open to Nigerian Students in France, with the deadline, study level and eligibility of each one taken from the award's own terms. 2 of them are fully funded.
Written from the 2 awards on this page — every figure below is counted from what the awards themselves state. 5 min read.
This page collects 2 scholarships in France that are open to Nigerian students. Both are labelled Fully Funded. Both are at Masters level, and one of the two also covers Bachelors study.
The two awards come from two providers: Sciences Po and Université Paris-Saclay. That is the whole list. It is a short page because it is narrow: France, and awards a Nigerian applicant can enter.
If you are searching for a fully funded route to a French degree and you hold a Nigerian qualification, this is where to start. It is not a long list, so read each entry properly rather than skimming the titles.
One is a scholarship attached to a single institution with its own admissions culture. The other sits inside a large research university with a wide spread of master's programmes. Both are fully funded. Neither is a government scheme run through a national agency, so you deal with the institution directly.
Both awards are open to Nigerian students. Of the 2, 0 name Nigeria or the West African region in their nationality wording, and 2 carry no nationality restriction at all. In plain terms, neither award is written as a Nigeria-only or Africa-only scheme. You are eligible as a Nigerian applicant because the award does not shut you out on nationality, not because a clause was written for you.
That distinction matters when you prepare your file. There is no separate Nigerian quota to point at, and no special instruction sheet for Nigerian candidates. You compete on the same terms as everyone else applying from outside France.
Both awards are at master's level, and one also takes undergraduate entrants. If you are finishing a B.Sc or HND and looking at a taught master's in France, both entries on this page are relevant to you. If you are coming straight from WAEC or NECO with A-levels or an equivalent, only one of the two is written for your level.
Both awards are labelled Fully Funded. Of the 2, 1 names tuition in its own text and 1 names travel. Those are the benefits the awards state in writing. Treat them as what the award says it covers, not as a promise about your particular case.
Read the wording of each award before you plan around it. A fully funded label tells you the scheme is substantial; it does not tell you which line items are settled by the provider and which you still carry. Where an award does not spell out a benefit, this page does not claim it for them.
For a Nigerian applicant, the practical question is the gap between what the award states and what you must still fund yourself. Living costs, health cover, and the deposit you pay before arrival are the usual pressure points. Check each award's own text for what it actually says.
Of the 2 awards, 1 states letters of recommendation as a requirement. That is the only requirement counted on this page, so do not assume the other award asks for nothing — it simply does not state this in the text we hold.
Where a recommendation letter is asked for, plan it early. A Nigerian lecturer or supervisor writing for you needs time, and the request usually has to travel through a department office. Ask in person, give a deadline that is earlier than the real one, and supply your CV and a short note on what you are applying for.
Expect the usual supporting documents alongside any form: transcripts, degree certificate or statement of result, and a passport data page. Transcripts from Nigerian universities can take weeks, and courier costs sit with you. Start those requests before you finalise your programme choice.
On English testing: French institutions often set their own rules, and some waive an English test where your previous degree was taught in English. Whether a waiver applies is decided by the institution, not by this page. Ask the admissions office directly and get the answer in writing.
Neither award on this page carries a single fixed date in the data we hold, so both are listed as undated. That does not mean there is no deadline. It means the date is not captured here, and you must confirm it on the award's own page and with the provider.
What the entries do show is that these schemes run on a cycle. The Emile Boutmy entry separates its master's and undergraduate timings, and the Paris-Saclay entry refers to a candidate selection stage that sits before the scholarship decision. In both cases there is an internal step — selection or admission — that comes first.
Work backwards from that. If a scholarship decision follows a selection stage, your application file has to be complete well before the selection date, not on it. Build in time for transcripts, courier delivery and any test you still need.
France hosted 772 Nigerian students in 2024, ranking 22nd as a destination for Nigerian students, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. That is a small number next to the traditional destinations, and it tells you something useful: the Nigerian community on a French campus may be thin, and you should not expect a ready-made network when you arrive.
It also means fewer people around you will have done this before. Plan the administrative side yourself — accommodation, residence paperwork, bank account, health cover — and ask the institution's international office what it handles for incoming students.
On duration, the data we hold gives undergraduate study as 3–6 years and master's study as 1.5–2 years. A master's is the shorter commitment, which is one reason both awards on this page sit at that level.
Two awards is a small list, so treat each application as a serious piece of work rather than a quick form. If neither fits your level or your programme, the wider France collection and the broader Open to Nigerian Students collection are the next places to look.
*UNESCO Institute for Statistics, inbound internationally mobile students from Nigeria, 2024.
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