Campus France study project and motivation letter: the method, with annotated examples

Information checked on 11 September 2026.

In an Études en France application (the online platform used to apply to study in France), your marks and diplomas say what you have already done. The study project says why you want to take the next step, and that is often where everything is decided. Campus France advisers (Campus France is the French agency for international students) and programme directors read a great many letters every season: they quickly recognise a text copied from the internet, and they file it with the others. So this guide gives you no template to copy. It gives you a method, then annotated examples, a weak and a strong version of the same paragraph, so you can see what makes the difference and apply it to your own background. For an overview of the whole procedure, start with our complete Campus France guide.

What the Études en France application really asks of you

The Études en France electronic file is filled in section by section. Campus France Senegal describes them as follows: personal information, curriculum vitae, special status where relevant, background and diplomas, language skills, choice of programmes, and a motivation letter for each choice. Your "study project" is therefore not a single box: it is read in three places.

Then comes the interview, where you will be asked to present the same project orally: we prepare it in the article on the Campus France interview. The written and the spoken parts must tell the same story.

The permitted length varies from one Campus France office to another. Campus France Mali sets the letter at 1,500 characters maximum, written in French. Campus France Côte d'Ivoire asks, for a first-year licence (bachelor's) application, for a motivation of four to five lines. Campus France Belarus recalls the general rule: never more than one page, and if the platform imposes a number of characters, you follow it to the letter. Check your country's instructions on your Campus France office's website before writing the first line. Either way, the space is short: every sentence must bring information.

The common thread: background, programme, career plan

A good study project fits into a three-part sentence: I have learned this, I now want to learn that, so that I can do this job. If one of the three links is missing or does not connect with the others, the reader sees it.

Take the test before you write. Fill in these three lines without worrying about style:

If you cannot fill in the second line for a given programme, it is not a writing problem: perhaps that programme simply is not the right one for you. Better to find out now than in front of the adviser. Choosing the list itself is covered in a separate article, on the strategy for your choices.

A change of direction is not a flaw, as long as it is explained. A biology graduate aiming for a management master's can be convincing if they say what led them there (an internship, a job, a community project) and what the new discipline adds to the first one. What worries a reader is not the turn, but the turn without a reason.

The method in five steps

Annotated examples: weak version, strong version

The paragraphs below were written by our editorial team to illustrate the method. They describe a fictional profile: a student with a licence in economics applying for a master's in development economics. Do not copy them: an adviser who has already read a phrasing will recognise it, and your background is not hers. The examples are in English here; your own letter will be written in French.

Presenting your background

Weak version. "I have always been passionate about economics and obtained my licence with good results. I am serious, hard-working and motivated."

What's wrong. "Always" cannot be checked, "good results" does not say which, and the three adjectives could appear in any letter. The reader learns nothing about you.

Strong version. "I obtained a licence in economics in 2026 with the grade assez bien and devoted my final-year dissertation to microcredit in my home region. This work, based on interviews with women traders, taught me to design a questionnaire and process simple data."

What changes. A dated diploma, a result, a precise piece of work, an acquired skill. Everything can be checked in the rest of the file.

Justifying the choice of programme

Weak version. "I would like to join your master's because it is recognised and France offers high-quality education."

What's wrong. That is true of hundreds of master's programmes. Nothing shows you opened this one's curriculum.

Strong version. "Your master's interests me first for its course on public policy evaluation, which will give me the quantitative methods I currently lack, and then for the final internship, which I would like to do in an organisation working on financial inclusion."

What changes. Two elements taken from the curriculum, each linked to a real gap in the background and to the project. This paragraph can only be sent to this programme.

Presenting the career plan

Weak version. "After my master's, I would like to work in a large international organisation to help my country develop."

What's wrong. The intention is sincere but vague: which position, which organisation, which skills? A project that is too broad gives the impression it has not been thought through.

Strong version. "After the master's, I am aiming for a research officer position in a microfinance institution or a specialised consultancy, where impact evaluation skills are in demand. In the longer term, I want to help design financial inclusion programmes for women traders."

What changes. A position, two types of employer, a skill that links back to the programme, and a long-term perspective that extends the licence dissertation. The common thread is complete.

The CV and the motivation for each programme

The Campus France CV: one page, facts

The CV is uploaded to the electronic file. Campus France Senegal asks for a file under 500 KB, and for documents in French or translated by a sworn translator. A few simple rules make a CV readable:

• One page, written in French, in reverse chronological order: the most recent at the top.
• Education: diplomas with the year, the institution and any honours.
• Experience: internships, jobs, volunteering, with what you actually did, in one line.
• Languages: your level, and the test taken if there is one (see the French test for Campus France).
• Skills and activities: software, community involvement, responsibilities.
• No unexplained gap year: a year without a diploma is justified in one line (work, preparing for a competitive exam, family reasons).

Reread the CV alongside the "background" section: dates and titles must be identical. A mismatch between the two guarantees a question at the interview.

One motivation per programme, not one letter for all

The file allows several choices, up to seven depending on the procedure: the difference between the two tracks is explained in DAP or hors DAP (the DAP, demande d'admission préalable, is the prior admission request for the first year at university). Each choice calls for its own motivation. The safest method:

• a common core about your background and career plan, which does not change from one programme to another, since it is about you;
• a specific paragraph for each programme, built from its curriculum and what it adds to your project;
• a cross-check: if you can swap the specific paragraphs of two programmes without anyone noticing, they are not specific enough.

Identical motivations from one choice to the next give the impression you have not looked at any programme in detail.

The mistakes that cost the most

• Copying a template. Ready-made phrases circulate from one year to the next, and advisers know them.
• Having someone else write your letter. At the interview, you will have to defend every sentence in your own words.
• Generalities about France. Prestige, culture, the language of Molière: nothing that sets you apart from other applicants.
• A project unrelated to your choices. Aiming for computer science while applying for law, with no explanation, casts doubt on the whole file.
• Ignoring the length limit. A text cut off by the platform mid-sentence looks careless.
• Mistakes. Get it proofread, then reread it yourself aloud.
• Writing at the last minute. Deadlines are not negotiable: the Campus France calendar helps you start in time.

Having your project reread by someone who has been there

A teacher can judge your French. But the most useful person at this stage is often a compatriot already studying in France in the field you are aiming for: they know what the programme really demands, what is expected in the first year, and whether your career plan holds up.

On Compatri, you can join the community of your country in the city where you plan to study right now, even if you do not live there yet, as well as affinity groups such as « Étudiants africains » (African students). Introduce yourself, say which programme you are aiming for, and ask whether someone in that field would reread your project. Ask for a proofread, not for writing: the text must remain yours, since you are the one who will defend it at the interview. Compatri is neither an agency nor a writing service, simply a place to find those who went before you. How to go about it is explained in joining your community before you leave.

Official sources

• Campus France Mali: thinking about your project (1,500-character letter)
• Campus France Senegal: building your Études en France file
• Campus France Côte d'Ivoire: applying for the first year of licence
• Campus France Belarus: how to write a motivation letter