What average do you need to be admitted through Campus France?

Information checked on 20 October 2026.

There is no national minimum grade average for admission through Campus France, the French government agency for international students. Campus France admits no one: universities and schools decide, programme by programme, according to their own criteria. The Campus France office in your country gives an opinion on your file, and that opinion does not bind the institution. Benchmarks do exist, though. Campus France Benin publishes a self-assessment tool built on about 1,017 files admitted for the 2026 intake, with an average threshold per field and per entry level. French grades are out of 20. Here are those figures, what they are worth outside Benin, and what weighs as much as the average in a file.

Is there a minimum Campus France average?

No, not at national level. Three official sources show it:

• Campus France Egypt, in its 2025-2026 brochure, sums up the division of roles: the office gives an advisory opinion, and institutions make their decision on the basis of your file.
• The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an answer published by the National Assembly, points out that « les établissements d'enseignement supérieur ne sont pas liés, dans leur décision d'admission, par les avis des SCAC » (higher education institutions are not bound, in their admission decision, by the opinions of the SCAC), the cultural services of French embassies.
• Campus France Benin presents its own tool as « un outil d'aide à l'auto-évaluation » (a self-assessment aid) that « ne constitue pas une garantie d'admission » (is no guarantee of admission).

Each institution therefore sets its own requirements, when it publishes any. Nantes Université, for example, asks international applicants for an average of at least 12/20 in the baccalauréat (French secondary-school leaving exam) or in their secondary-school leaving certificate, as well as in the subjects related to the programme, and in French the TCF at level 4 (B2) with 14/20 in the written expression test. For master's degrees, Université Lyon 2 sets intake capacities per mention (degree subject) and recruits on application files. These rules apply to those institutions, not to others: always read the page of the programme you are aiming for.

What does exist are each office's recommendation criteria. Those of Campus France Benin for the 2026-2027 campaign:

• dropping back more than one level of study is not recommended;
• at most one repeated year per cycle of study is recommended;
• the national Licence (bachelor's) diploma is required to enter a master's;
• no more than three successive Études en France procedures;
• report cards after 2019 must be verifiable on Educmaster.

Our article on Campus France in Benin details this office's procedure.

Admitted students' averages: the table by field

The CFB Recommandation tool from Campus France Benin compares an applicant's grades with thresholds drawn from about 1,017 files admitted through the standard procedure for the 2026 intake. Compatri uses exactly these thresholds in its simulator.

How to read it:

• Licence, secondary: the average of your upper secondary years and the bac. The simulator uses seconde, première, terminale (the three final years of secondary school) and the bac for an L1 or L2, terminale and the bac for an L3.
• Licence, higher education: the average of your years after the bac. For an L1, with no year in higher education, the secondary average plays both roles.
• Master's, bac: your baccalauréat average.
• Master's, higher education: the average of your years in higher education, from Bac+1 to Bac+3 for an M1, up to Bac+4 for an M2.

Three findings stand out. The gaps between fields are small: two points separate the arts from health. Health stands apart, with 14/20 and above expected in higher education. And the requirement rises by half a point at each step, from secondary to higher education and from licence to master's.

Caution. These thresholds were measured on Beninese applicants, graded in the Beninese system and processed by the Cotonou office. For a Cameroonian, Senegalese, Ivorian or Moroccan applicant, they give an order of magnitude, not the rule of their own office. Nor are they official minimums: they show the zone where most admitted students sit, and each institution keeps its own reading of the file.

Placing your Campus France average in a few minutes

Compatri's free Campus France simulator applies these thresholds to your grades. You choose your field, your current level and the level you are aiming for, you enter your averages, and it measures the gap with the admitted students' benchmarks. It also checks the points that block a file whatever the average: repeated years, previous procedures, the licence for a master's, funding.

The calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is saved without a Compatri account and your explicit consent. Compatri is not Campus France: the simulator places a profile, it replaces neither your office's opinion nor the institutions' decision.

What counts as much as the average

Campus France Benin lists three strengths for succeeding in the procedure: the academic excellence of your record, but also « un projet d'études et professionnel cohérent et préparé à l'avance » (a coherent study and career plan prepared in advance), and a well-understood financial side. The average is therefore only part of the file. Here is the rest.

• A coherent path. Each programme you apply for must extend your studies in a readable way. A change of direction can be defended, provided you explain it. Our guide to choosing programmes on Études en France shows how to build a list that holds together.
• Progress. Your transcripts are read year by year. A rising average tells a story: highlight it in your letter.
• Repeated years. Only one per cycle is recommended in Benin. If you have one, explain the circumstances and what changed afterwards.
• Breaks. A year without study needs justifying: a job, an internship, a family reason. Campus France Benin asks applicants to gather transcripts, diplomas, and work and internship certificates before the procedure.
• French level. Some universities set a precise threshold, such as Nantes (B2 and 14/20 in writing). Our article on the Campus France French test compares the options.
• How selective the track is. Health requires the highest averages. IUTs, STS and classes préparatoires (preparatory classes) are selective tracks that Campus France excludes from the DAP (prior admission request): they follow their own procedure, explained in our article DAP, non-DAP or Parcoursup.
• The letter and the interview. They give meaning to your grades. See how to write the Campus France cover letter and prepare the Campus France interview.
• Funding. An admission without proven resources stops at the visa stage. The amount to prove is in our article on the minimum resources for a student visa.

Low average for Campus France: what can you do?

An average below the benchmarks does not close the door, it changes the strategy.

Getting support

The simulator gives a diagnosis. If you want someone to review your file with you, Compatri offers personalised Campus France support. It is a paid service: its price depends on your needs and is given to you at the first exchange, before any commitment.

Students who have already been through the procedure are another resource. On Compatri, the Beninese diaspora in France brings together compatriots who lived through the same campaign and can tell you which programmes answered them.

Compatri is neither Campus France nor an institution: for a particular case, the Campus France office in your country remains your official contact.

Official sources

• Campus France Benin: CFB Recommandation tool
• Campus France Benin: the standard application procedure 2026-2027
• Campus France: enrolling in a higher education institution
• Campus France Egypt: 2025-2026 brochure (PDF)
• Campus France Congo: vocational diplomas, BTS, BUT, professional licence
• French National Assembly: written question no. 24043 and the ministry's answer
• Nantes Université: admission of international students
• Université Lyon 2: master 1 admission rules, deliberation 2026-05 (PDF)