Since March 2023, the Ministry of Higher Education and Research has been providing a new national platform (monmaster.gouv.fr) enabling students to consult all national master's degrees and to apply directly on the platform to access to the first year of a master's degree. One single application is to be submitted according to a single national calendar.  

Updated each year, the monmaster.gouv.fr platform lists more than 3,500 master's degrees and 8,000 programmes offered by public higher education institutions (or private institutions under agreement with an accredited public institution). The courses presented are all subject to periodic evaluation by an independent administrative authority, the Haut Conseil de l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (Hcéres), and to a decision by the Ministry authorising the institution to award a national master's degree. 

The aim of the monmaster.gouv.fr portal is to facilitate the assignment of students and to enable them to better anticipate the number of places available in the targeted courses. The platform therefore simplifies students’ access to their specialisations and subsequent career paths. For the start of the 2023 academic year, this platform replaces all the previous platforms (such as e-candidat, for example) and all the previous application procedures. 

The information presented on the platform includes, in particular: the capacity of intake, the teaching methods (initial or continuing education, distance learning, sandwich courses, etc.), recruitment (application form, examination, competitive examination), the recommended bachelor's degrees, the knowledge and skills expected of the applicant, the general criteria for examining applications, the modern languages taught, the course location, etc. 

The new national application platform will not be available to some applicants, notably those of foreign nationality (excluding nationals from the European Economic Area, Andorra, Switzerland or Monaco) whose country of residence is still covered by the Études en France scheme.  

A few courses will not use the national platform for recruitment to the first year of the Master's programme, in particular some international Master's programmes and courses accessible through the competitive entrance examination for journalism schools that are members of the Conference of Journalism Schools. 

References:  

https://www.monmaster.gouv.fr/ 

Article D. 612-36-2 du code de l’éducation  

https://www.etudiant.gouv.fr/fr/comment-candidater-en-master-622 

Source: Eurydice Unit France