Université PSL

PSL is a federation of some of France's most selective institutions — the École normale supérieure, Dauphine, Mines Paris, Chimie ParisTech and others — teaching at a small scale with a heavy research emphasis.

Entry is selective and, for the grandes écoles inside it, follows its own route; a counsellor should walk you through which of its schools your qualifications actually fit.

Université PSL is collegiate — it brings together a set of selective Paris institutions including the Ecole normale superieure, Universite Paris Dauphine and Mines Paris — and you are in practice applying to one of those component schools, each with its own selection process.

• Identify which component institution delivers your programme first. The requirement, the route and the selectivity all differ between them, and there is no single PSL entry standard.
• Completed Class 12 from a recognised board for undergraduate entry, with results well above a minimum threshold, since these are selective institutions that admit small cohorts.
• French language certification at the level the school specifies, which is required for most French-taught programmes; English evidence where a programme is taught in English.
• A recognised bachelor's degree for master's entry, assessed on the content of the curriculum, with the mathematics, economics and engineering programmes examining the syllabus in detail.
• Complete transcripts, certificates, a CV, a motivation letter and academic references, with written submissions or an interview at several of the schools.
• Competitive examination for some routes, particularly at the engineering and normale superieure institutions, which is a different process from a file-based application.

Confirm with us which component school assesses your application and what form its selection takes, because preparing for a file review and preparing for an examination are not the same task.

PSL is a public institution, but because it is a federation of schools with different legal forms, the fee position varies between its components rather than following one rule, and that is the first thing to establish.

• Where a programme sits within the public university framework, tuition follows the nationally set rate by level of study, far lower than at public universities in the UK or Australia.
• Where a programme is delivered by a grande ecole component, that school sets its own fees, and they can be substantially higher than the national university rate. Mines Paris and the management programmes at Dauphine are the cases to check.
• A differentiated non-EU rate may apply at the components inside the national framework, with exemptions available at the institution's discretion.
• A separate annual student and campus life contribution is payable alongside tuition, collected nationally.
• Selected international and executive master's programmes are priced independently of both frameworks.
• Central Paris living costs are the dominant expense, and proof of funds at a nationally set level is required for the visa.

Do not budget PSL as a single institution. Establish which school delivers your programme, take the fee published by that school for your year of entry, and ask us to confirm it together with the non-EU rate position and the visa funds requirement.

Funding at PSL is organised partly centrally and partly by the component schools, and because the institutions are selective and small, the awards are competitive but the cohorts are too.

• PSL international scholarship programmes, aimed at strong applicants to its bachelor's and master's programmes, applied for on their own timetable alongside admission.
• Component school awards — the normale superieure, Dauphine and the engineering schools each run support of their own, with criteria set by the school.
• French government scholarship programmes, administered nationally and through the diplomatic network, applied for well ahead of university deadlines.
• Exemption from the differentiated non-EU rate at the components where that rate applies, granted at the institution's discretion.
• Doctoral contracts, funding research students through a salaried contract arranged with a doctoral school and supervisor.
• Research and laboratory-linked support in the sciences and mathematics, tied to a specific group.

Because selection and funding are often decided in the same round at the component schools, a strong but late application can succeed academically and still miss the money. Confirm both timetables before you start.

PSL has no single campus. Its component institutions occupy their own historic buildings across Paris — the Latin Quarter, the Left Bank and Dauphine's site near the Bois de Boulogne — and your daily life is shaped by your school far more than by the federation.

• Your school is your base. Cohorts are small, the buildings are distinctive, and the culture of an engineering school, the normale superieure and a management and economics institution differ sharply from one another.
• Small, selective cohorts change the experience. Teaching is close, expectations are high, and you know the people on your programme rather than being one of thousands.
• Shared PSL activity sits on top of that — cross-school courses, joint research and university-wide student initiatives — so there is a wider community available without it replacing the school.
• Being in central Paris is the compensation for having no campus. Libraries, museums, cinemas and the city's intellectual life are the surroundings, and student cultural access is subsidised.
• Accommodation is the difficulty. Some schools have limited housing of their own, the national student services body allocates subsidised rooms by application, and the private central Paris market is expensive and moves fast.
• French is genuinely needed for daily life and administration, even where your programme is taught in English.

Ask your specific school what accommodation it can offer before you accept a place. In central Paris that answer changes the whole cost of the year.