Graduating college seniors and current holders of bachelor's degrees
3 awards granted
10 months in France
The 2025-2026 application is now closed. The 2026-2027 competition will open in Spring 2025.
Three awards of 10 months each are offered to pursue a master's degree program offered through the CY Initiative of Excellence.
CY Initiative of Excellence brings together CY Cergy Paris Université and ESSEC Business School, to create one of the 17 French Universities of Excellence, selected by the French government.
CY Cergy Paris Université is a multidisciplinary teaching and research university located just outside of Paris, created in January 2020. It is the result of a merger of several French academic institutions: the University of Cergy-Pontoise, EISTI School of Engineering, Paris Seine University, and the close partnership of ESSEC Business School.
CY Cergy Paris Université collectively has five graduate schools, focusing on: (1) sciences, engineering, economics; (2) arts and humanities; (3) education; (4) law and political science; and (5) business and management. Students may therefore find degree programs in a wide variety of fields. It has a student body of 27,000, with 1,773 teaching and research staff.
Grants will generally begin on September 1 through June 30 for university attendance. They may be renewed for a second year of studies, conditional upon results.
Grantees will be required to attend a mandatory 1- to 2-day in-country orientation in late September or early October, and a 2-day mid-year conference in February (organized by the Fulbright Commission in France).
The 2025-2026 application is now closed. The 2026-2027 competition will open in Spring 2025.
For more information please consult IIE's website on Fulbright-CY Initiative Award (CY Cergy Paris Université and ESSEC Business School)
Graduating college seniors, recent graduates, and current holders of bachelor's degrees interested in a master's degree offered through CY Cergy Paris Université are eligible to apply. All master's programs that potentially lead to doctoral studies are eligible. (There is no expectation that students will continue on to the doctoral level, although they are more than welcome to explore that possibility.)
French language proficiency is recommended, commensurate with the requirements of the project. Sponsored language courses are not offered by the Fulbright program in France. In the Fulbright online application, applicants must include the Language Self-Evaluation and a Foreign Language Evaluation by a professional language instructor in relation to their language proficiency.
Applicants must concurrently apply to a master's degree offered by CY Cergy Paris University. Any questions about eligible programs and application procedures may be addressed to fulbright.inquiries@cyu.fr
