To celebrate the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence and French-American friendship, France has launched the Lafayette Fellowships, a new program offering 30 scholarships each year to American students who wish to spend a year pursuing a master’s degree in France. ENS de Lyon is proud to be among the 15 French host institutions for the laureates.
On September 23, 2025, Emmanuel Macron, the French President officially presented the initiative at Villa Albertine, the seat of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States. He underlined the significance of culture and education in the longstanding partnership between France and the United States.
In the words of Mohamed Bouabdallah, the Cultural Counselor of France in the United States and Director of Villa Albertine, “The goal of the program is to cultivate the next generation of American leaders who understand and value the French perspective on culture and society.” He drew a parallel with the prestigious Fulbright Program in the United States and the Marshall Scholarships in the United Kingdom to underscore the initiative’s ambition and scope.
The Lafayette fellows will receive a monthly stipend of €1,500 for 12 months; tuition fees and round-trip airfare will be covered. A partnership with CNOUS will assist the fellows in finding housing, and participants will benefit from a rich cultural program alongside their academic curriculum.
The Lafayette Fellowship is open to all disciplines, including STEM, humanities, social sciences, and the arts. Fellows will take courses in English and in French. Within just two weeks of opening applications, the program had already received more than 500 submissions.
ENS de Lyon is honored to be part of this initiative, joining a distinguished group of institutions recognized for the excellence of their academics. Participating universities include Aix-Marseille, Bordeaux, Grenoble Alpes, Paris Dauphine–PSL, Paris-Saclay, and Strasbourg, alongside prestigious schools such as École Polytechnique, HEC Paris, ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse School of Economics, and the Paris Climate School at Sciences Po.
Vincent Michelot, Vice President for International Relations at ENS de Lyon, comments:
Our cross-disciplinary approach articulating STEM with Social Sciences and Humanities was probably one of the key factors in our being selected as a host institution for the Lafayette Fellowship. We look forward to welcoming the fellows to our 12 departments to help them discover from the inside how École Normale Supérieure implements its republican mission statement.
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