France Intakes 2027-28: September and January Deadlines for Indian Students

How Many France Intakes Are There for 2027-28?

France has two main intakes for international students: September, also called Fall, and January, also called Spring.

• September intake: the primary academic cycle. Nearly all public universities, Grandes Écoles and engineering schools admit here.
• January intake: the secondary cycle. Mostly business schools and selected postgraduate programs.

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You will see February, March and April intakes listed on some sites. These are individual private schools running executive or rolling-entry cohorts, not national admission cycles. No public university in France admits in those months. If you are planning your year around a March intake, you are planning around something that does not exist at scale.

Both France intakes lead to the same degree and the same post-study options in France. The difference is programme choice, funding access, and how your Indian academic calendar lines up.

Counselor insight: Roughly 70% of Indian students in France are enrolled in management master's programs, with engineering next at about 11%, according to Campus France India's national coordinator in an interview with Careers360. That distribution matters for intake choice: management is exactly the field where January cohorts are most common, so business applicants have a genuine second window that engineering applicants largely do not.

September vs January France Intakes: Which Window Fits Your Timeline?

The September intake wins for most Indian applicants. The comparison below shows why, and where January still makes sense.

The honest downside of January: you enter the stage cycle half a year out of sync. French companies recruit interns on a September-anchored calendar, and a January starter often reaches their internship search when the good positions have already been filled by the September cohort.

Counselor insight: The January intake is genuinely right for one profile, which is the student whose final semester results or degree certificate arrive too late for a December deadline. For everyone else it is a compromise. Both the Charpak and Eiffel calendars are built around a September start, so a January applicant is usually choosing to skip a funding cycle worth up to Rs.94,000 per month in stipend.

September 2027 France Intake: Confirmed and Expected Deadlines

Here is the part no other guide will tell you plainly. The 2027-28 calendar has not been published yet. Campus France's procedure page, last updated 20 November 2025, still carries only the 2026-2027 dates.

That is not a reason to wait. The DAP window has opened on 1 October and closed on 15 December for consecutive cycles. Plan on that pattern and confirm the exact dates when they appear on the portal.

Source for all 2026-27 dates: Campus France, Études en France procedure.

Two things Indian applicants get wrong here:

1. No answer counts as a refusal. If you receive offers and do not reply by the stated date, the silence is treated as a rejection. This is written into the procedure.
2. Parcoursup is not your platform. Parcoursup opened 17 December 2025 for the 2026-27 cycle, but it applies to students preparing a French or European Baccalauréat. If you are a CBSE, ICSE or state board student, your route is DAP through Études en France.

Counselor insight: The files that clear fastest are opened in the first two weeks of October. Campus France India operates through offices in a limited number of cities, and interview slots compress badly in the second half of the window. A student who submits on 12 December is competing for an appointment against everyone else who waited, in the same three weeks, at the same handful of centres.

January 2028 France Intake: Who It Actually Suits

The January intake in France opens roughly September to November 2027 and runs at a much smaller set of institutions.

Realistically available program types:

• MBA and Master in Management at private business schools
• Selected MSc programmes in finance, marketing and international business
• A small number of specialised engineering and data master's at private schools

Two cautions before you build a plan around it:

• Verify the cohort actually runs. School websites list January starts that have not run for two admission cycles. Ask the admissions office in writing whether the January 2028 cohort is confirmed and how many seats it holds.
• Scholarship access is thinner. Charpak and Eiffel calls are anchored to September. Institutional aid for January cohorts is smaller and awarded to fewer students.

You will still need the full Campus France process, the same English proficiency scores, and the same proof of funds. January is a different date, not a lighter process.

Counselor insight: Ask one specific question when you contact a January programme: how many students started in the last January cohort? A cohort of 12 against a September cohort of 90 tells you what your peer network, alumni access and campus recruitment will look like for two years.

How to Apply Through Campus France for Both France Intakes

Indian nationals must apply through the Études en France (EEF) platform. This is not an alternative to applying directly to a university. It is a prerequisite for your student visa, and India is one of 73 countries and territories covered by the procedure, per Campus France.

The eight steps, in order:

1. Create your EEF account on the Études en France platform.
2. Build your academic profile: every year of schooling, every marksheet, no gaps.
3. Upload documents, translated into French or English where required.
4. Select programs: up to 3 under DAP, or up to 7 under the Hors DAP route for Master 1 and Master 2 or Licence 2 and 3.
5. Pay the EEF procedure fee of Rs.20,000, increased from Rs.18,500 on 1 August 2026 per Campus France India.. 
6. Attend the Campus France interview at your nearest centre.
7. Receive the pre-consular opinion, then complete biometrics at VFS Global.
8. Apply for the VLS-TS long-stay visa and validate it within three months of arriving in France.

Private schools and some Grandes Écoles run their own admission round in parallel. You still route through Campus France for the visa.

Counselor insight: A program list spread across unrelated fields is the most common self-inflicted wound in an Indian file. A shortlist containing a master's in marketing alongside one in mechanical engineering reads as an incoherent study plan at the interview stage. Pick a lane, then vary by institution and city, not by discipline.

What the 2027-28 France Intakes Will Cost Indian Students

Three cost rules changed in 2026. All three land on the 2027-28 cohort.

Tuition at public universities

Source: Campus France, Tuition fees in France, updated 25 June 2026, 2026-27 rates. PhD programmes are not subject to differentiated fees.

Private institutions and business schools set their own fees, generally Rs.6.58 lakh to Rs.19.74 lakh (€6,000 to €18,000) or more per year, per the same Campus France page.

The exemption change that matters most for 2027-28

Until recently, most non-EU students at French public universities were exempted from the higher rate. That is ending on a published schedule.

Under Decree No. 2026-385 of 19 May 2026, each institution may exempt only a capped share of its non-EU students per category:

Confirmed on the French Ministry of Higher Education's FAQ on differentiated fees and Service-Public.gouv.fr. If you are applying for 2027-28, budget for the full rate and treat a waiver as a bonus.

Mandatory fees and living costs

Exchange rate used: Rs.109.69 per EUR. Verify the current rate before finalising your budget.

The proof-of-funds increase, in plain numbers

Campus France India confirmed on 24 July 2026 that from 1 August 2026, the minimum financial resources for a French student visa rose to €877.50 per month, replacing €615.

Most guides still ranking for this topic show the €615 figure. If you built your loan sanction or bank balance around it, you are Rs.3.46 lakh short before tuition.

One more cost most guides have not caught

From 1 July 2026, non-EU students who do not hold a scholarship are no longer eligible for APL housing benefit, under the 2026 finance law upheld by the Conseil constitutionnel. Those payments were worth roughly €150 to €250 per month, which is Rs.16,454 to Rs.27,423 a month gone from a typical Indian student's budget.

Counselor insight: Stack the three 2026 changes and a self-funded Indian master's applicant for 2027-28 is looking at roughly Rs.3.46 lakh more in proof of funds, up to Rs.4.33 lakh in tuition that most students previously had waived, and up to Rs.3.29 lakh a year in lost APL. Families who budgeted from a 2024 or 2025 blog post are short by several lakh, and that gap is what turns an admission letter into an unused admission letter.

For a full breakdown by city and institution type, see LeapScholar's guide to the cost of studying in France.

Documents Required for the 2027-28 France Intakes

Counselor insight: The document that stalls Indian files most often is the degree certificate, because the DAP window closes in December 2026 while a final-year student's degree will not exist until mid-2027. This is not a problem you solve by waiting. Confirm in writing this month what your university's provisional certificate looks like and how fast it is issued, because that single piece of paper decides whether September 2027 is realistic for you.

Month-by-Month Plan for the September 2027 France Intake

Mapped to the Indian academic year.

Scholarship timing to watch: Eiffel nominations run through the institution, not the student, and typically open around October for the following September. Charpak calls for 2027 are not yet published. Both are listed on the Campus France India scholarships page. LeapScholar's overview of scholarships in France covers eligibility in more detail.

Counselor insight: The awkward truth in this calendar is the seven-month gap. The DAP window closes in December 2026, and a final-year Indian student will not hold a degree certificate until roughly July 2027. Every applicant in that position is admitted on provisional documents. Students who discover this in November, after the window has opened, lose weeks they did not need to lose.

Which France Intake Should You Choose? Three Scenarios

If you are a final-year BTech student graduating in May 2027: target September 2027. Open your EEF file in October 2026 using your first six or seven semester marksheets. You will submit a provisional certificate in June or July 2027. Confirm now that your college issues one within two weeks of results, because if it takes six weeks you will miss the visa queue and January 2028 becomes your realistic intake.

If you are a Class 12 CBSE student appearing for boards in March 2027: September 2027 is tight and September 2028 may serve you better. The DAP window closes in December 2026, before your boards. If you are applying for 2027 entry, you will be assessed largely on Class 11 and predicted performance, and your bachelor's tuition will be Rs.3.18 lakh (€2,902) a year with only a 25% exemption pool. Consider a gap-free alternative: apply in the October 2027 window for September 2028, with final board marks in hand.

If you are a working professional with 3 years of experience targeting an MBA or MiM: both France intakes are open to you, and January 2028 is a real option because business schools run it. Weigh two things. First, your notice period against a January start that leaves little room for delay. Second, cost: private school fees of Rs.6.58 lakh to Rs.19.74 lakh (€6,000 to €18,000) plus Rs.11.55 lakh in proof of funds, against September's fuller scholarship access. If funding matters more than starting six months sooner, choose September.

Counselor insight: The deciding variable is almost never preference. It is whether your documents will physically exist by the deadline. Two students with identical profiles end up in different France intakes because one university issues provisional certificates in ten days and the other takes two months.

What to Do If Your France Intake Application Goes Wrong

Counselor insight: Insufficient or poorly documented funds is a more common cause of a weak French student visa file than low marks or a low English score. With the threshold now at Rs.11.55 lakh (€10,530) for the year and APL no longer available to most Indian students, the financial section of your file deserves more preparation time than your SOP.

3 Takeaways on France Intakes

1. Open your Études en France file in the first two weeks of October 2026, not in mid-2027. The DAP window has closed on 15 December for consecutive cycles, and interview slots run out before the deadline does.
2. Budget on Rs.96,254 (€877.50) a month in proof of funds and the full differentiated tuition rate. With the 2027-28 exemption pool capped at 25% and APL no longer available to most Indian students, treat any waiver as a bonus rather than an assumption.
3. Ask your Indian university this week how fast it issues a provisional certificate. That answer, more than your marks or your test score, decides whether September 2027 or January 2028 is your realistic intake.

Verified by: LeapScholar's France counseling team, with hands-on experience guiding Indian students through the Campus France Études en France procedure and the VLS-TS long-stay student visa.

Have questions about the 2027-28 France intakes? Book a free session with a LeapScholar counselor.

Frequently Asked Questions About France Intakes