EPFL's Excellence Fellowship, from your Nigerian bachelor's

This guide is for a Nigerian with a strong bachelor's degree, or in the final year of one, who has never done a master's and wants one at EPFL, Switzerland's federal technology university in Lausanne (the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), and to be considered for its fellowship of CHF 10,000 a semester (about ₦16.3 million). EPFL gives a small number of these awards, called Master's Excellence Fellowships, to the strongest people who apply for its master's programmes. There is no separate form: you apply for one master's at EPFL, tick one box, and pay and validate the application by 15 December 2026. This guide takes you from your bachelor's to your first semester in Lausanne and your first fellowship payment, one stage at a time: what you do, where, what you need, what it costs in francs and naira, how long it takes, and what opens next. Read the first part, "EPFL's fellowship steps, the fee and the December dates", tonight. Then find your row in "From today". Then read Part 1 once and come back to the stage you are on. Every rule, fee and date here comes from EPFL's own pages, the Embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria's pages, the canton of Vaud's (the Swiss state Lausanne sits in), the City of Lausanne's, the Nigeria Immigration Service's, NYSC's and your university's. Updated on 28 October 2026. Where a line says "people who did it", it is what applicants and students wrote online in 2025 and 2026 about their own applications, not a rule. Naira figures are at the Central Bank of Nigeria's rate of 27 October 2026, ₦1,632 to the Swiss franc, rounded.

EPFL's fellowship steps, the fee and the December dates

Everything here is on EPFL's fellowship page, opens in a new tab and the pages it leads to.

The steps.

1. Choose one master's programme at EPFL that fits your bachelor's. EPFL takes one application, for one programme, a year.
2. Get your papers ready before the form opens: your CV, the complete transcript from each university you have attended, your degree certificate if you have it, your passport, and a statement of purpose of at most 1,000 words.
3. Ask three of your lecturers now to write for you. You type their contact details into the form; EPFL emails each one a link, and they upload their own letters. If fewer than two letters come in, your application is not processed.
4. Fill EPFL's online master's application, opens in a new tab, tick the box to be considered for an excellence fellowship, then validate (EPFL's word for submitting the finished form: it sends you a confirmation email and an application number) and pay. That is the whole fellowship application: "No additional documents are needed beyond those required for admission."

The fee. CHF 150 (about ₦245,000) for a bachelor's from outside Switzerland, paid online "only ... by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, UnionPay, Diners/Discover), PayPal, or Twint". It is not refunded if the application is not validated or you withdraw. The fellowship itself costs nothing more.

The December dates.

• Mid-November 2026: EPFL's online form opens. No page gives the day: from mid-November, open the online application page every few days until the form is there.
• 15 December 2026: the last day. "Only applications that are paid for and validated by 15 December at the latest will be considered for the Excellence Fellowship." Aim to validate and pay in the first days of December, so your lecturers get their link early. The last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria.
• One week after 15 December: your lecturers' letters must be uploaded. "The exact date is indicated in the confirmation email you receive once your application is validated."
• Late March 2027: EPFL sends the decisions on December applications, and selected fellows are told.

An application paid and validated after 15 December can still get you a place at EPFL, but never the fellowship. This is new for 2027: last year EPFL ran a second fellowship round, and people who did it wrote online in 2026 about winning in June. That round is gone.

Where the window stands today

On 28 October 2026 the window for the 2027 fellowship has not opened. EPFL's master's form opens "from mid-November to the 15th of December" and its fellowship page says: "Important: New deadline for the 2027 EPFL Master Excellence Fellowship. Applicants must submit their application within the first application window for a Master's program", which for you is 15 December. No page gives the exact day in November the form opens. From today you have 48 days to 15 December, and about two to three weeks before the form itself opens.

The hour. No EPFL page prints an hour for 15 December, so treat the end of 14 December in Nigeria as your last moment, and pay in the first days of December if your card allows.

What happens after 15 December. The second window runs "from the 16th of December to the 31st of March", with decisions in mid-June: it can bring admission, never the fellowship. EPFL says to anyone who needs a visa: "People who need a visa are strongly advised to apply by the December deadline in order to have an answer earlier and have enough time for the visa procedure (which can take up to 3 months)." So for a Nigerian the December window is the one to use even for admission alone.

What the pages disagree on, and which you follow. EPFL's fellowship FAQ still says "Selected candidates will be notified at the beginning of April (first round) and early to mid-June (second round)". The fellowship page and the application page, which carry the 2027 change, say only the December window counts and decisions come in late March. Follow the stricter one: apply by 15 December and expect your answer around the end of March or the first days of April. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the first-round emails came on 1 April, about a day after the admission letter; one wrote in 2025 that the email landed in spam.

Studies start "in early September", 2027, for the December and March windows alike. An intensive French course is offered to every accepted student, starting four weeks before the semester.

From today: what you can still finish

The parts you control least are your lecturers (three must agree, and at least two must upload by about 22 December: the date is in your confirmation email) and your card (it must pay CHF 150 abroad). Your statement and your CV are in your own hands. Find your row by the days left to 15 December and your column by what you hold.

Why the lecturers decide your row. Their letters are "only ... accepted if they are submitted by the referees themselves", and "The application will not be processed if EPFL does not receive at least two reference letters." A lecturer you ask in December may not upload in the week after the close.

Why the card decides it. EPFL counts an application only when it is "paid for and validated". Each card is enabled or not for foreign online payment by its own bank. Ask your bank, and test yours now (Stage 5).

Part 1. Before you start

What the fellowship is

EPFL "offers a limited number of excellence fellowships ... to candidates who have achieved remarkable academic results and who distinguish themselves in extracurricular activities, whether sporting, artistic, civic, or entrepreneurial." Each is "CHF 10,000 per semester, with a maximum coverage of 4 semesters": about ₦16.3 million a semester, and up to CHF 40,000 (about ₦65.3 million) for the whole master's. It "covers two to three semesters of the Master's cycle (depending on program duration) plus one semester for the Master's project." For someone applying from outside, EPFL also reserves a room: "Reservation of a student room in a student residence (for external candidates only)." At the end you get "A certificate of excellence".

What it does not pay. "Students are responsible for managing all living expenses, including tuition fees and rent." So you pay EPFL's semester bill, the rent on the reserved room, health insurance and food from the fellowship and from your own money (Part 7).

How it is paid. "Scholarships are paid out at the start of each semester into a Swiss bank or postal account." You open that account in Switzerland after you arrive, and "Recipients should bring sufficient funds to cover their first month's expenses, as the initial payment may take some time to process."

Who chooses. "After an initial screening by the sections, the Excellence Fellowships Committee awards the fellowships." The sections are the departments that run each master's. EPFL judges "academic excellence, qualifications, and motivation", and says it also looks at "research (publications, prizes or fellowships), entrepreneurship (patent applications, start-up creation), or societal commitment (associative or civic activities, organization of festivals and events)". There is no minimum grade: "There is no a minimal GPA score but you need to keep in mind that the program is very competitive and only a small percentage of applicants is awarded the scholarship." EPFL decides, and nobody can promise you a fellowship.

The bodies you will deal with

EPFL is the university. Its admissions office takes your application on its online form (IS-Academia, EPFL's student system), its sections choose, and its Registrar's Office sends your admission and the fellowship email. The fellowship team answers at master.fellowship@epfl.ch, given on EPFL's fellowship page, opens in a new tab.

The Embassy of Switzerland in Nigeria, in Abuja, takes your student visa. "MY PLACE OF RESIDENCE ... Nigeria ... Embassy of Switzerland in Abuja": 157 Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse II, Abuja; visa email abuja.visa@eda.admin.ch; open for visas by appointment, Monday to Thursday, 08:00 to 11:00, and on the phone Monday to Thursday, 14:00 to 16:00 (+234 810 411 9944). The study visa is free (Stage 10).

The canton of Vaud's Population Service (Service de la population, SPOP) decides your visa: the embassy sends your file there, and "The responsible representation can only issue the visa after approval by the competent authorities." After you arrive, your town's residents' office (contrôle des habitants) registers you, and the Population Service issues your residence permit.

The student halls in Lausanne are run by foundations, not by EPFL: "EPFL does not have its own housing campus." The first named on EPFL's list is FMEL (Fondation maisons pour Étudiants Lausanne).

Your Swiss health insurer and the canton's health insurance office, OVAM, which can exempt a student whose foreign insurance meets its rules.

The route this guide walks

Apply in the December window for one EPFL master's, tick the fellowship box, and if the fellowship comes, take it with your admission. Then the visa from Abuja, the room, and the first semester. If admission comes without the fellowship, the guide shows what the master's then costs you (Part 7), so you decide with the numbers in front of you.

Check that you can start

Your degree. "Anyone holding a Bachelor's degree from a university (or equivalent) in a field related to the EPFL curricula can apply for a Master's program." A four or five-year Nigerian university bachelor's counts: EPFL accepts a university degree from a programme of at least three to four years as equal to a bachelor's. An HND or OND does not: "non-University degrees do not allow one to apply for admission to a Master's program at EPFL, regardless of their duration", and the same applies to a degree from a university that is not state-accredited (in Nigeria, check that yours is on the list of the NUC, the regulator of Nigeria's universities). A degree shorter than three years does not count.

Your field. Each programme page says what it takes. Civil Engineering takes "Bachelor's degrees obtained in the same field but from another institution", judged "on the basis of an application dossier", and they "must be accompanied by excellent academic records." Computer Science asks, on top, for skills in "calculus, discrete mathematics, linear algebra and probability" and in "Python, Java, or C++". EPFL may ask you to take extra courses: "The acquisition of additional credits to fill any gaps may be required." And EPFL warns on every programme page that meeting all its criteria does not by itself win a place.

You must not already hold a master's. "Candidates who already hold a Master's degree or are currently enrolled in a Master's program at EPFL" cannot get the fellowship, and the admission page bars anyone who "already hold[s] a Master's degree (or equivalent) in the field of the program for which they apply (or a similar field)".

Your grades. No EPFL page gives a cut-off or reads a Nigerian class of degree. Its own words are "Only people with excellent academic records and references have good chances of being accepted", and for the fellowship "a small percentage" win. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the winners they knew were in the top 1 percent of their class with a record pointed at their programme (projects, an internship and leadership in one case; research at EPFL and two papers in another), and that a near-perfect record with a first-author paper was refused. So apply if your result is among the very top of your class, and let your projects and what you have built carry the rest.

Your final year. You can apply before you finish. The fellowship needs no degree in hand, and EPFL's rule is: "The document attesting the successful completion of the title granting admission to EPFL (most commonly the final transcripts) must be submitted no later than September 30th. Admission is otherwise canceled." If a strike or a late result could push your final transcript, or your university's attestation that you graduated, past 30 September 2027, apply in a later year. If you are called up for NYSC before you would travel, the service year runs past September 2027, and NYSC's bye-laws allow no leave to travel outside Nigeria except by its Director-General. What leaving for your master's before NYSC means for your service later: we cannot tell yet.

Your English and French. EPFL asks for no English test: "Extra documents, such as TOEFL or GRE scores ... are welcome but not compulsory", and for the fellowship they "have no influence on evaluation". Sixteen programmes are taught in English, among them Computer Science, Data Science, Cyber Security, Physics, Life Sciences Engineering and Financial Engineering. Ten more are taught in English and French with a good command of English recommended: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Microengineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Energy Science and Technology, Environmental Engineering, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics and Statistics. Architecture and Urban Systems recommend a good command of French. EPFL's overview marks Civil Engineering for French too, but the Civil Engineering page itself says it is taught in English with some optional courses in French: read your programme's own page.

Your passport. The visa sheet asks for a passport "valid at least three months after leaving Switzerland and with at least two blank visa pages". A two-year master's from September 2027 ends in mid-2029, so your passport should run to the end of 2029 or later. A 64-page Nigerian passport valid for 10 years costs ₦200,000, and a renewal takes "21 days after Successful Enrolment" (the Nigeria Immigration Service's service agreement of 2026).

One programme a year. "It is only possible to apply for one Master's program per academic year." Choose with care (Stage 1).

Part 2. The whole journey on one page

Stage 1. Choose your one programme. Free. One or two evenings, this week.

Stage 2. Get your documents ready. Your transcript from your university, your certificate or your latest result sheet, your CV, your passport. Your university's fee for a transcript; a passport if yours runs out too soon (₦200,000).

Stage 3. Ask three lecturers. Free. Ask this week.

Stage 4. Write your statement of purpose. Free. At most 1,000 words; a week of evenings.

Stage 5. Make sure your card pays CHF 150 abroad. A small test payment this week.

Stage 6. Fill, tick, validate and pay. CHF 150 (about ₦245,000). From mid-November to 15 December 2026. Aim to validate and pay in the first days of December; the last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria.

Stage 7. Your lecturers upload, and you wait. One week after 15 December for the letters; decisions in late March 2027. Meanwhile apply for student halls and keep the account you will show for the visa open and in use.

Stage 8. The decision. Late March or early April 2027: your admission letter, then the fellowship email. Confirm by the Registrar's deadline.

Stage 9. Send your papers for checking (the prerequisites form). Free. Before 30 September 2027; do it in April.

Stage 10. The visa from Abuja. Free. Email for an appointment the day your admission letter comes. Early June 2027 is the latest to lodge your visa in Abuja: EPFL says at least three months before your studies start; the embassy's own limit, ten weeks before you fly, is later, so EPFL's governs. Aim to lodge in April or early May. About 8 to 12 weeks for the decision, and it can take longer.

Stage 11. Your room. The fellowship reserves you a room in a student residence; you pay the rent. Halls assign rooms "between July and August".

Stage 12. Travel and arrival. Register with your town's residents' office within 14 days, take Swiss health insurance within 3 months, open a Swiss bank account. Carry your first month's money, the permit fees and your room's deposit.

Stage 13. Your first semester and your first fellowship payment. Matriculation in early September, EPFL's semester bill of CHF 2,240 (about ₦3.66 million), and the fellowship's first CHF 10,000 into your Swiss account at the start of the semester.

Stage 14. Keeping it. An average of 5.0 out of 6 and 50 credits in your first year renew it for the second.

The money, in one line. Applying costs CHF 150 and your transcripts; the visa is free; in Lausanne EPFL budgets CHF 2,107 a month to live (about ₦3.44 million) plus CHF 2,240 a semester in fees, against the fellowship's CHF 10,000 a semester (Part 7).

The time, in one line. From today to your first semester is about ten months: the form by 15 December 2026, the answer in late March 2027, the visa from April to July, and the start in early September 2027 (Part 6).

Part 3. Stage by stage

Stage 1. Choose your one programme

Back to the short stages

Why. EPFL takes "one application and ... one program per academic year", and the fellowship is won inside that one application. Each section screens its own applicants first. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that what decided it was how closely their record fitted the one programme they chose.

Do.

1. Open EPFL's list of master's programmes, opens in a new tab and its programmes overview, opens in a new tab, which gives each programme's credits and teaching language.
2. Read the page of every programme close to your bachelor's to its end: the "Admission criteria" part, the prerequisites, and the teaching language.
3. Choose the one whose admission line names your field and whose prerequisites your transcript shows. Choose one whose teaching you can follow: English, or English and French with English recommended, unless you speak French.
4. Check its credits. Mathematics is 90 credits; every other programme is 120. The fellowship FAQ: a "90 credit program: max 3 semesters" (CHF 30,000, about ₦49 million), and a 120-credit programme up to four.

What a master's at EPFL is. "All programs consist in two steps: the Master's cycle (60 or 90 ECTS depending on the program) followed by a one-semester Master's thesis (30 ECTS)." ECTS credits are Europe's measure of study, 30 to a full semester. On engineering programmes you also do "an 8-week internship in a company". The degree is an EPFL Master of Science.

What you need. Your transcript, to check your courses against the programme's prerequisites.

Cost. Free.

Time. One or two evenings.

You are done when you have written down your one programme, its credits (90 or 120), its teaching language and the prerequisites your transcript shows.

If no programme fits your bachelor's. Do not apply to a programme far from your degree. EPFL decides "on a case-by-case basis" and can require up to 60 extra credits; a programme far from your degree is the weakest application you can send, and you have only one.

Next. Get your documents ready (Stage 2).

Stage 2. Get your documents ready

Back to the short stages

Why. EPFL's form is "done entirely online", and "Documents sent by post, email, or fax will not be considered." Everything is a scan you upload yourself, so you scan before the form opens, not on the last night.

What EPFL asks.

• "Your resumé (curriculum vitae)."
• "Copy of your University degree(s), if already available."
• "Complete transcripts from each university you have attended." In your final year, your result sheets for every year done so far.
• "Your identity card or passport." The data page of your Nigerian passport.
• "A statement of purpose" (Stage 4).
• "The contact details of three academic referees" (Stage 3).

The language. "All documents should be in English, French, German, or Italian." Nigerian papers are in English, so you need no translation.

Where. A student's copy serves here: EPFL checks the papers with your university only after you are admitted (Stage 9). What the largest universities' pages say:

• University of Lagos: you apply for the student copy on the student portal (studentportal.unilag.edu.ng, "Student Academic Transcript" under Results), and it is emailed to you and put on the portal for download (its records portal, 26 October 2026).
• University of Ibadan: a transcript sent to your own address is treated as a "Student's Copy" and watermarked; it costs ₦10,000 on the transcript portal, academic.ui.edu.ng (21 October 2026).
• University of Nigeria, Nsukka: the iTranscript portal takes no request for a student copy; request a transcript addressed to yourself instead (₦12,000 for a local transcript; 21 October 2026).
• Obafemi Awolowo University: a transcript you request for yourself on tps.oauife.edu.ng is marked "Student Copy" (21 October 2026).
• Ahmadu Bello University: a personal (student's) copy as a local e-copy costs ₦5,000, in 24 to 48 hours (21 October 2026).

For any other university, ask the records office now how you get a copy and how long it takes. What to upload if your university gives you no student copy: we cannot tell yet. In your final year, ask the records office at the same time for your result sheets and, once you finish, an attestation that you have graduated (Stage 10 needs it for the visa).

Your CV. One or two pages in English: your degree and class, your projects with what you built and found, any internship, research, prizes, papers, and leadership in clubs or your community. EPFL weighs "research", "entrepreneurship" and "societal commitment" as well as grades: put them where the reader sees them first.

Cost. Your university's transcript fee. EPFL charges nothing for the papers.

Time. Request the transcript this week.

You are done when your CV, your transcript or result sheets, your certificate if you have it and your passport page are clear colour PDFs in one folder, and your name reads the same on all of them.

If your names differ between papers. Start the correction now, and do not let it stop you applying: EPFL checks your papers with your university after admission (Stage 9). A passport correction is applied for on the Nigeria Immigration Service's portal; its administrative charge is ₦30,000.

If your university is slow. On a funded programme like this one, the only paid help is getting a document out. Get your documents out: your transcript and your university's attestation, collected and sent where they must go. A quote per document, before any work starts, with our charge and the official fee side by side. Rekoja's desk, opens in a new tab. Applying to EPFL, the fellowship box, your statement, your lecturers and your visa are free, and you do them yourself.

Next. Ask three lecturers (Stage 3), the same week.

Stage 3. Ask three lecturers

Back to the short stages

Why. "The recommendation letters must be issued by professors who are aware of your work and achievements. These recommendations are confidential and will only be accepted if they are submitted by the referees themselves, through the electronic application process. The application will not be processed if EPFL does not receive at least two reference letters." EPFL asks for "professors who are aware of your work and achievements" and names no academic rank: ask the lecturers who know your work best, your final-year project supervisor first, then two whose courses you did well in.

How it works. You type each lecturer's name and email into the form. "Validating your electronic application will generate a personal e-mail to your referees, requesting them to fill in the recommendation form." "You will be notified by email when each referee has provided his or her recommendation." They can upload from the moment you validate, and the letters are due "one week after the application deadline": about 22 December 2026, the exact date in your confirmation email.

Do.

1. This week, ask three lecturers in person or by email whether they will write for you.
2. Tell each one: the programme, that EPFL will email them a link after you validate, and that the letter is due within a week of 15 December, in the Christmas break.
3. Send each one your CV, your transcript and the programme's page.
4. Use the email address each one reads every day, not an old one.
5. Aim to validate and pay in the first days of December, so your lecturers get their link early. The last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria.

A message you can send. "Good morning, Prof. ___. I am applying for a master's in ___ at EPFL in Switzerland for September 2027, and for its Excellence Fellowship. After I submit in early December, EPFL will email you a link to upload a recommendation letter, due about 22 December. Could I count on you? I attach my CV, my transcript and the programme's page. Thank you."

Cost. Free.

You are done when three lecturers have said yes and you hold the email address each one reads.

If one goes quiet. Ask a fourth lecturer now, and put the three most reliable on the form. Two letters are the minimum, so a third is your insurance.

Next. Write your statement (Stage 4).

Stage 4. Write your statement of purpose

Back to the short stages

Why. It is where EPFL reads your "motivation", one of its three tests, and the only place you tie your record to your one programme.

EPFL's rule. "The statement of purpose should not exceed 1000 words. You are required to describe your academic background and your career strategy. Please be precise about the objectives you wish to reach through your studies at EPFL."

Do. Write it in four parts:

1. Your background. Your degree, your class, the courses and the project that prepared you for this programme, with what you built or found.
2. Beyond the classroom. Research, an internship, a prize, a start-up, a club you led, community work: the things EPFL names.
3. Why this programme at EPFL. Name the courses, the specialisation or the laboratory you want, from the programme's own page.
4. Your career strategy. What you will do after the master's, and how this programme gets you there.

Count the words and stay under 1,000.

Cost. Free.

Time. A week of evenings.

You are done when a lecturer or a friend who knows the field has read it, and it is under 1,000 words.

What not to do. Do not write a general essay you could send anywhere, and do not write a separate fellowship essay: there is none.

Next. Your card (Stage 5).

Stage 5. Make sure your card pays CHF 150 abroad

Back to the short stages

Why. "Only applications that are paid for and validated by 15 December at the latest will be considered for the Excellence Fellowship." Payment "is only possible by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, UnionPay, Diners/Discover), PayPal, or Twint." A card that fails on the last night ends the fellowship chance, however strong the file.

Do.

1. This week, ask your bank whether your naira or dollar card is enabled for international online payments, and what its limit is.
2. Make one small foreign online payment with it, so you know it goes through.
3. If it fails, ask a relative or friend abroad whose card works to stand by: EPFL lists the kinds of card it takes, not whose card it must be.

Which bank. EPFL's page names no bank. Each card is enabled or not for foreign online payment by its own bank.

Cost. CHF 150 (about ₦245,000) when you pay in Stage 6; your bank's own charges.

You are done when a small foreign payment has gone through on the card you will use.

Next. Fill, tick, validate and pay (Stage 6), as soon as the form opens.

Stage 6. Fill, tick, validate and pay

Back to the short stages

Where. EPFL's online master's application, opens in a new tab, which opens the form (IS-Academia, the master's application, opens in a new tab) from mid-November.

Do.

1. Fill the form in English, for your one programme.
2. Upload your CV, transcripts, certificate if you have it, passport page and statement.
3. Enter your three lecturers.
4. Tick the box: "Be sure to check the box indicating that your profile should also be considered for an excellence fellowship."
5. Validate and pay CHF 150. "Validating your electronic application will generate a confirmation e-mail and an application number for your file."
6. Forward the confirmation email's letter date to your three lecturers.

When. Aim to validate and pay in the first days of December, so your lecturers get their link early. The last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria. EPFL: "Make sure to leave enough time to your referees to fill in the recommendation letter, by validating your electronic application form early enough."

Cost. CHF 150 (about ₦245,000). "The fee is not refunded in case of non-validation or withdrawal of the application." People who did it wrote online in 2025 that EPFL told them it gives no fee waiver.

Time. One sitting of an hour or two, with your scans ready.

You are done when you hold EPFL's confirmation email with your application number. Keep it: some student halls ask for that number (Stage 7).

If the payment fails. Try another card or PayPal the same day, or let the person abroad who stands by pay with their card at your form, together on a call: EPFL lists the kinds of card it takes, not whose card it must be. Do not leave it to the 15th.

Next. Your lecturers upload, and you wait (Stage 7).

Stage 7. Your lecturers upload, and you wait

Back to the short stages

The letters. Check your email for EPFL's notice as each lecturer uploads. By the date in your confirmation email you need at least two. If one has not uploaded two days before, call them.

While you wait, do three things.

1. Apply to student halls now on EPFL's student halls page, opens in a new tab. EPFL's housing service: "Don't wait until you've been admitted to EPFL to submit a housing application." "Depending on the student's hall, you may be asked for your EPFL application number". "Registration dates are often announced only a few days or weeks in advance", and "some registration periods last only 1 to 5 days." The fellowship reserves you a room if you win it, but if you are admitted without it you will need a hall (Stage 11).
2. Keep the account you will show open and in use. The embassy asks for the last six months of stamped statements ("Original bank statements for the last 6 months, stamped & signed by the bank"), so the account you will show (yours, or a sponsor's with a signed letter) should be open and in use from about October or November 2026. EPFL's visa page says: "The date when the money has been put on the account does not matter."
3. Check your passport runs to the end of 2029 (Part 1); renew it now if not, because a renewal takes 21 days and a new passport 42 days after you enrol at the passport office, on the Nigeria Immigration Service's passport portal, opens in a new tab.

Time. About three and a half months from 15 December to the end of March. People who did it wrote online in 2025 that EPFL gave no date while they waited.

Next. The decision (Stage 8).

Stage 8. The decision

Back to the short stages

What comes. "Decisions are sent late March for applications registered by the 15th of December". "Selected candidates are notified late March." People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the first-round emails came on 1 April, about a day after the admission letter; one wrote in 2025 that the email landed in spam. Check your spam folder from 25 March.

If you are admitted with the fellowship.

1. Confirm in time: "To confirm the fellowship, selected students must indicate their intention to attend EPFL by the deadline specified in the email from the Registrar's Office." If you do not answer, "the fellowship is offered to the next candidate on the waiting list".
2. Do not defer: "if you defer or postpone your admission, you will lose the scholarship."
3. Declare every other award. EPFL's conditions say the fellowship "cannot be combined with other substantial scholarships"; its FAQ says other funding "may be allowed" and "Each case is reviewed individually". Follow the stricter: declare everything, and ask the fellowship team before you accept another award.
4. Email the embassy for a visa appointment the same day (Stage 10).

If you are admitted without the fellowship. You still have a place at EPFL, and your answer is due by the Registrar's deadline. Before you accept, read Part 7: without the fellowship your first year costs between about CHF 29,700 and CHF 33,500 (about ₦48.5 million to ₦54.6 million) in living costs and fees by EPFL's own figures, and the visa needs proof of the money. Your place is "only valid for the next beginning of an academic year"; to come in 2028 you apply again.

If you are refused. "In case of a rejection, it is possible to apply again the following year, for the same program or for a different program. A positive reply is however unlikely should the person not present any new academic results." Go to Part 8.

You are done when you have confirmed your place (and your fellowship) by the Registrar's deadline.

Next. The prerequisites form (Stage 9) and the visa (Stage 10), at the same time.

Stage 9. Send your papers for checking (the prerequisites form)

Back to the short stages

Why. "All accepted candidates will be required to send us authentifiable academic documents before their matriculation." Matriculation is EPFL's word for enrolling: "Matriculation is not possible until EPFL has confirmed the reception and authentication of the documents."

Do. Open the form "'Prerequisites for matriculation (Master)', the URL of which is available in the admission email." On it:

• upload your transcripts and certificate in PDF, or say your university will send them;
• give "the email address of the competent office of the University for the authentication of the documents" (your registry or records office).

EPFL then checks with your university by an "online document verification system (e.g., QR code, qualified electronic signature, secured platform)" or by "contact via email with the competent office of the University".

What you need. Your "complete final Bachelor's (or equivalent) transcript", and if it does not say you were awarded the degree, "a supplementary document attesting this must also be provided (e.g., diploma, diploma supplement, or certificate)".

Still in your final year? Open the form in April, give your records office's email, say your university will send your final transcript, and see that it reaches EPFL the week your result is out, before 30 September 2027.

Do it in April, and tell your university's records office to expect EPFL's email and answer it. "No matriculation is possible after the 30th of September."

Cost. Free at EPFL; your university's fee for an official copy if it sends one.

You are done when EPFL confirms it has received and authenticated your documents.

If your university does not answer EPFL. Go to the records office in person with EPFL's email. A file EPFL cannot authenticate by 30 September is a cancelled admission.

Stage 10. The visa from Abuja

Back to the short stages

Which visa. A long stay visa (type D), for more than three months, "must be requested from the Swiss representation (embassy or consulate) closest to your home abroad." For you that is the Embassy of Switzerland in Abuja. A visitor's visa will not do: "A tourist visa is only valid for 3 months and cannot be converted into a student permit after your arrival in Switzerland."

When. Early June 2027 is the latest to lodge your visa in Abuja. EPFL says at least three months before your studies start ("The visa application must be submitted at least 3 months prior to the start of your planned studies"); the embassy's own limit, ten weeks before you fly ("Submission may be as early as six months prior and not later than ten weeks prior to the date of departure"), is later, so EPFL's governs. The embassy: "Please book an appointment immediately after receiving the admission letter from the school / university in Switzerland." With a decision in late March and a start in early September, aim to lodge in April or early May.

Step 1. Book by email

Do. Email abuja.visa@eda.admin.ch for an appointment the day your admission letter comes. Put your name, your passport number and the day you plan to travel in it, so they can give you a date at once. You may enter Switzerland no earlier than the Saturday before EPFL's Welcome day (or a week before the French course, if you take it), so plan your travel day from that. "Applicants must appear at the Embassy in person." Come at your appointment time. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that the embassy answered within hours to a day and a half, and gave a date about two weeks out.

Cost. The embassy's study visa sheet says: "Study visa is free of charge."

You are done when you hold the embassy's email with your date.

Step 2. Prepare the file

Do. Make two full sets of the papers below and a third set holding only a copy of your passport's data page. "Please do not staple the documents." "Failing to bring all required documents will result in having to book a new appointment."

What the embassy's sheet for a D national visa for studies in Switzerland asks:

• Three national (type D) visa application forms, filled and signed (free, on the embassy's documents page, opens in a new tab).
• Your passport, "valid at least three months after leaving Switzerland and with at least two blank visa pages", with every earlier passport, and two copies of the data page.
• Four colour photographs, 35 by 45 mm, white background, not older than three months.
• EPFL's admission letter, original and two copies.
• Your diplomas and certificates, original and two copies. Still in your final year? EPFL's visa page says you can bring an attestation from your university, signed and stamped, instead; it need not be notarised.
• A motivation letter "Stating the objectives of the study, signed and dated".
• A "Written Commitment to leave Switzerland after studies", signed and dated.
• A "Written Statement with Student's Intention at the End of the Studies", signed and dated.
• Proof of payment of the university's fees, or of exemption. EPFL bills only at registration ("Tuition fees at EPFL cannot be paid in advance"): bring EPFL's admission letter, a print of EPFL's semester invoicing page (it says the invoice comes only once you register, and that "This certificate can serve to confirm this e.g. when applying for a visa"), and your fellowship letter if you hold one.
• Proof of money: "Original bank statements for the last 6 months, stamped & signed by the bank", original and two copies; "If sponsored: a signed and dated sponsorship letter, along with a copy of the sponsor's passport data page ... and his/her original bank statements for the last 6 months". If you hold the fellowship, add your fellowship letter here too.
• Your CV, original and two copies.
• Proof of language, "If available".

Also the canton's form. EPFL: the form "Application for a Temporary Residence Permit for Study Purposes in the Canton of Vaud" goes "with the visa application", because the canton decides. Fill it from the canton's study permit form, opens in a new tab: your EPFL admission, a letter of intent, your CV, your money, where you will live, and a passport copy. For your money, the canton's form takes the decision of a study grant: enclose a copy of your fellowship letter, and your statements for the rest. The canton's study page asks a grant holder for a copy of the papers awarding the grant, with its amount and length. If a sponsor living outside Switzerland (a parent in Nigeria, say) backs you, the form says the Swiss embassy must attest the sponsor's commitment. On housing, EPFL says: "Do not wait to find an accommodation to apply for your visa"; give the room reservation if you hold one, or write "that you are in contact with the EPFL housing information service".

How much money. Three pages speak, and the stricter one governs you:

• EPFL: "You have to prove that you have 2000.- CHF/month to live in Switzerland. Generally embassies/consulates request this amount for a whole academic year." And "If the scholarship is lower than 2000.- CHF/month, you will have to prove that you have sufficient means to cover the difference."
• The canton's form: "The student's financial means are considered to be sufficient if the student ... can count on about CHF 2'000.-- per month, plus accommodation expenses."
• The embassy's sheet: six months of stamped statements, yours or a sponsor's, with no amount printed.

So plan to the canton's line: for the first year, CHF 2,000 a month plus your rent, less the fellowship. With EPFL's own housing figure of CHF 900 a month, that is CHF 34,800 for twelve months, less the fellowship's CHF 20,000 for two semesters: CHF 14,800 (about ₦24.2 million) in your own or your sponsor's statements. Without the fellowship, the full CHF 34,800 (about ₦56.8 million). This is more than EPFL's yearly budget because the canton counts CHF 2,000 a month before rent; show the higher figure. How the canton counts a fellowship of CHF 10,000 a semester against its monthly line: we cannot tell yet. Until the canton says, plan to show the difference.

What not to believe. Creators online in 2026 told Nigerians to show 21,000 francs, to keep the money in a bank on the Swiss regulator's list, or to open a blocked account. None of these is on the embassy's sheet, EPFL's page or the canton's form for Lausanne. Show stamped statements of an account you hold, or a sponsor's.

You are done when both full sets and the third set are in one envelope, unstapled.

Step 3. Lodge in person in Abuja

Do. Go to the embassy at your appointment time with the original documents and the sets. Answer questions about your studies plainly, from your motivation letter.

You are done when the embassy has taken your file.

Step 4. Wait, then collect

Time. About 8 to 12 weeks for the decision, and it can take longer. The embassy: "The total processing time is approximately 8-12 weeks. This time is an approximation only and may vary considerably depending on the canton responsible". The canton's form gives its own four weeks plus "two and three weeks" for the file to travel. People who did it wrote online in 2026 of a Lausanne case with no news after eleven weeks.

While you wait. The embassy: "The responsible representation does not provide information during the procedure. Therefore, please contact the cantonal migration authority responsible for your place of residence", which for EPFL is the canton of Vaud's Population Service. EPFL adds: "Contact the embassy on a regular basis to inquire about your application status." Ask both. The Population Service answers emails only about a file it is processing, which yours is once the embassy has sent it.

If your attestation or certificate comes while you wait. EPFL's visa page says to start the visa without it and "send it by email to the Population office when you get it": the address is etrangers.etudiants@vd.ch, and you write your name, surname, date of birth and origin in the email.

When it is approved. "Once the application has been approved, you will have to submit your original passport to this Embassy in order to obtain your visa." Ask for a multiple-entry visa, so a trip home before your residence permit comes does not trap you.

The entry date. "the Service de la Population may release a visa at earliest for the Saturday preceding the Welcome day (or one week before the French course)." Book your flight to that date, not before.

You are done when your passport carries your Swiss D visa.

If it is late. "It is pointless to continue your visa procedure if you cannot be on campus by 30 September." A fellow who cannot come loses the fellowship by deferring; that is why you lodge in April.

If it is refused. How you challenge a refusal: we cannot tell yet. Read the refusal letter the day it comes: it names the authority and the days you have. Write to the Population Service at etrangers.etudiants@vd.ch the same day, quoting your file.

Next. Your room (Stage 11), already running.

Stage 11. Your room

Back to the short stages

With the fellowship. EPFL reserves you "a student room in a student residence (for external candidates only)". Follow the reservation instructions EPFL sends with your fellowship. You pay the rent: "Students are responsible for managing all living expenses, including tuition fees and rent." The rent of a reserved room: we cannot tell yet.

Without it. Apply to several halls at once from EPFL's student halls page, opens in a new tab. "For the September academic year, assignments generally take place between July and August." Halls do not ask for a person living in Switzerland who signs to back your rent; private agencies ask international students for one. EPFL's budget puts housing at CHF 900 a month (about ₦1.47 million).

The deposit. Most leases in Switzerland ask a rent deposit of up to three months' rent, paid into a blocked bank account in your name and returned when you leave if nothing is wrong. You pay it within 30 days of signing, at the latest when you move in (Part 7). The deposit for a hall or a reserved room: we cannot tell yet.

Scams. EPFL's housing service warns of a rent below the market, a landlord abroad who cannot show you the room, and a request to pay "via Western Union, MoneyGram, etc., or to a foreign account". EPFL says: "Never pay for a simple visit to the accommodation." Pay nothing before you hold a signed lease or a hall's written offer.

You are done when you hold a lease or a hall's confirmation with the monthly rent on it (the residents' office asks for it).

Stage 12. Travel and arrival

Back to the short stages

Carry. Your passport with the visa, EPFL's admission letter, your fellowship letter, the room confirmation, the originals of your certificates, and the money in hand when you land, before any fellowship payment: your first month (CHF 2,107), the permit cash (about CHF 200), your room's deposit (up to three months' rent), and the semester bill (CHF 2,240) if it falls due before the first payment (when the first payment lands: we cannot tell yet). Without the deposit that is CHF 4,547 (about ₦7.42 million). The fellowship's first payment "may take some time to process".

Within 14 days: register. "You are required to register at the Residents' registration office (Contrôle des habitants) in the municipality where you live within 14 days after your arrival in Switzerland." In Lausanne you register online and upload these; in another town you bring them:

• the arrival report (Rapport d'arrivée, a form on the City of Lausanne's students' page, opens in a new tab, and at your town's office);
• the canton's study form;
• a colour copy of your passport and visa;
• one passport photo;
• "Proof of EPFL enrolment registration less than 3 months old" (EPFL: "Enrolment certificates can be printed out directly from your secured access in IS-Academia");
• your lease;
• your fellowship attestation.

In Lausanne, the online form, opens in a new tab opens at most 30 days before your arrival; you pay the arrival fee of CHF 30 (about ₦49,000) on it, and can order a residence declaration for CHF 20 (about ₦33,000), the paper that lets you open a bank account while you wait for your permit. The permit's own fee comes on a separate bill. In another town, bring "cash money to pay your residence permit ... we advise you to take ~200.- CHF" (about ₦326,000). If you arrive for the French course before you matriculate: what proof of enrolment the office takes before you matriculate: we cannot tell yet.

You will then get a letter to give your fingerprints at the Biometric Center in Lausanne. "It takes a few months to receive your residence permit." Your permit is a B permit, "generally issued for one year".

The residence tax. "The residence tax for students is often CHF 37.-per month." It is paid to your landlord, who passes it to the town. A fellow can ask the town for an exemption with the fellowship attestation; EPFL says each town decides, and it may refuse.

Within 3 months: health insurance. "It is mandatory to take out insurance with a Swiss health insurer within 3 months of taking up residence, unless you have health insurance abroad that is recognized and valid in your canton of residence." Even if you join in your third month, you pay from the day you arrived. A foreign policy counts only if it gives unlimited cover for treatment in Switzerland and OVAM, the canton's health insurance office, exempts you. EPFL budgets "minimum 113.-/120.- CHF per month" (about ₦184,000 to ₦196,000).

Your bank account. "The Residents' registration office will provide you with an attestation (while awaiting the official residence permit) which will allow you to open a bank account." Open a Swiss bank or postal account with it in your first week: the fellowship is paid only there.

Stage 13. Your first semester and your first fellowship payment

Back to the short stages

Matriculation. "Matriculation takes place at EPFL on dedicated days shortly before the beginning of the semester." In 2026 they were 1 to 3 September; the 2027 days will be on EPFL's page. Bring your passport, with your prerequisites form already accepted (Stage 9).

The semester bill. For a student from abroad who moved to Switzerland to study, CHF 2,240 a semester (about ₦3.66 million): "CHF 2190" tuition, "CHF 25 in AGEPoly membership" (the students' association, refundable on request), CHF 16 for sport and CHF 9 for the social fund. It comes on IS-Academia and is paid "by credit card (Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, UnionPay, Diners/Discover), PayPal, or Twint", or by bank transfer; "in case the deadline is missed, a Fr. 50.- tax will be charged." Anyone can pay it for you: EPFL says "payment can easily be delegated to a third party: all you need to do is to send them the link to the payment form".

Your first fellowship payment. CHF 10,000 into your Swiss account "at the start of each semester". When the first one lands in 2027: we cannot tell yet.

You have arrived when you are matriculated, your classes have begun, and the fellowship's first CHF 10,000 is in your Swiss account.

Stage 14. Keeping it

Back to the short stages

The rule for the second year. Fellowships are renewed if, at the end of the first year, you have "reached at least the average of 5.0 (6 = max / 4 = pass)", weighted by credits over every graded course, and "earned at least 50 credits (for branches other than the internship)". "Credits for language courses, admission courses or courses outside of the study plan do not count." "There will be no exceptions." The final semester's payment needs "proof of official enrolment in their master's project".

What suspends it. Sickness, a personal break, or an extended master's: "The scholarship will also be suspended if the master's cycle is extended."

Working. "Working in Switzerland does not affect the amount or continuation of the Excellence Fellowship." But as a non-EU student you "must wait 6 months before taking up employment, except for student assistants employed in research in connection with their field of study", and then at most "15 hours per week during courses and full-time during university vacations". EPFL's own warning: "With a weekly schedule of 50-60 hours, it is not easy to reconcile studying and working." People who did it wrote online in 2025 and 2026 that non-EU students worked in EPFL laboratories up to 15 hours a week, and wrote to professors early because the posts are few.

The permit each year. "You will have to ask for an extension of your residence permit on a yearly basis and prove again that you have 2000.- CHF/month, for at least six months."

Part 4. What can stop you

Your deadlines.

• 15 December 2026: paid and validated, for the fellowship. Aim for the first days of December; the last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria.
• About 22 December 2026: at least two letters uploaded (the date is in your confirmation email).
• The Registrar's deadline in your decision email: confirm your place and fellowship.
• Early June 2027: the latest to lodge your visa in Abuja. EPFL says at least three months before your studies start; the embassy's own limit, ten weeks before you fly, is later, so EPFL's governs.
• 30 September 2027: your final transcript to EPFL and your documents authenticated, or no matriculation; and the last day to be on campus.

What stops people, and what you do.

• A card that fails on the last night. Test it now (Stage 5); pay in the first days of December.
• Fewer than two letters. Ask three lecturers now, and a fourth if one goes quiet (Stage 3).
• Applying in the March window. It gives admission only (Where the window stands today).
• Already holding a master's. You cannot get the fellowship.
• An HND or a degree from a university not accredited by the state. EPFL's master's does not take it.
• Money for the visa. Enclose your fellowship letter; plan to show the rest in statements (Stage 10).
• A late final transcript. Without it by 30 September, admission is cancelled.
• Deferring. "If you defer or postpone your admission, you will lose the scholarship."

Part 5. If you already did some of this

• You have chosen your programme and your lecturers have agreed: go to Stage 4.
• You have validated and paid: go to Stage 7, and start your housing applications and your bank statements this week.
• You have your admission and fellowship letters: confirm by the Registrar's deadline, then Stages 9 and 10 the same day.
• You hold your visa: Stages 11 and 12.
• You applied after 15 December: your application is read for admission only; go to Part 8 for the 2028 fellowship.

Part 6. The time, stage by stage

• Choose the programme: one or two evenings, this week.
• Papers: request the transcript this week.
• Lecturers: ask this week.
• Statement: a week of evenings, by late November.
• Card: a test this week.
• The form: one sitting. Aim to validate and pay in the first days of December, so your lecturers get their link early. The last moment is the end of 14 December in Nigeria.
• The letters: one week after 15 December.
• The decision: late March or early April 2027.
• The prerequisites form: in April 2027, before 30 September.
• The visa: book the day of your admission letter; an appointment about two weeks later, as people who did it wrote online in 2026; lodge in April or early May, and by early June 2027 at the latest (EPFL's three months before your studies start governs over the embassy's ten weeks before you fly); about 8 to 12 weeks for the decision, and it can take longer.
• The room: hall assignments between July and August.
• Arrival: register within 14 days; insurance within 3 months.
• First semester: early September 2027; the French course four weeks before it, if you take it.

Part 7. The money, all of it

Your first year, set side by side. EPFL gives two figures for living costs: CHF 25,219 a year in its table and about CHF 29,000 in its headline ("plan for approximately 29'000.- CHF per year to cover your living expenses, PLUS the tuition fees"). Add two semester bills of CHF 4,480. With the fellowship (CHF 20,000 in that year, about ₦32.6 million), your first-year gap is between about CHF 9,700 and CHF 13,500 (about ₦15.8 million to ₦22 million); without it, between about CHF 29,700 and CHF 33,500 (about ₦48.5 million to ₦54.6 million). The gap comes from your own or your family's money, or from work after your first six months.

The money in hand on arrival. In hand when you land, before any fellowship payment: your first month (CHF 2,107), the permit cash (about CHF 200), your room's deposit (up to three months' rent), and the semester bill (CHF 2,240) if it falls due before the first payment (when the first payment lands: we cannot tell yet). Without the deposit that is CHF 4,547 (about ₦7.42 million).

The whole master's. Over two years: living CHF 50,438 (about ₦82.3 million) by EPFL's table or about CHF 58,000 (about ₦94.7 million) by its headline, and four semester bills of CHF 8,960 (about ₦14.6 million), against up to CHF 40,000 (about ₦65.3 million) from the fellowship (CHF 30,000, about ₦49 million, on a 90-credit programme). If the fellowship is not renewed after the first year (Stage 14), the second year is yours to pay.

For the visa. Plan to show CHF 14,800 (about ₦24.2 million) in stamped statements with the fellowship, and CHF 34,800 (about ₦56.8 million) without it (Stage 10).

What the fellowship never covers. The application fee, the semester bill, rent, insurance and your flight. "Students are responsible for managing all living expenses, including tuition fees and rent."

Part 8. If the window has closed: the closed plan

After 15 December 2026 the 2027 fellowship is closed, and nothing can be added. You can still apply for admission alone until 31 March 2027 (decisions in mid-June), but EPFL advises anyone who needs a visa to use December, and you would pay everything yourself (Part 7). Without the money in Part 7, use this year to prepare for the next window.

When the next window opens. EPFL's admission page gives its windows as "from mid-November to the 15th of December" and says "The criteria are valid for the ongoing year." EPFL has not yet published the 2028 fellowship's deadline or dates. This year the form opened in mid-November; watch the page from October 2027 (Stage C5).

Do these now, in order.

Stage C1. Check your fit for the next window

Back to the short stages

Do. Read "Check that you can start" in Part 1 against your papers: a university bachelor's of at least three to four years, no master's, and your final transcript in hand by 30 September of the year you would start. You are done when you know the window you aim at.

Stage C2. Build what EPFL weighs

Back to the short stages

Do. Add to your record what EPFL names: a research project with a lecturer, a paper, an internship, a prize, a start-up, leadership in a club or your community. People who did it wrote online in 2026 that a record pointed at one programme set the winners apart. You are done when your CV carries one new entry tied to your programme.

Stage C3. Choose your programme and keep your lecturers close

Back to the short stages

Do. Stages 1 and 3, without the deadline over you. Tell your three lecturers you will ask them in November. You are done when three have agreed.

Stage C4. Papers, statement and card

Back to the short stages

Do. Stages 2, 4 and 5. Keep the account you will show open and in use: the embassy asks for the last six months of statements. You are done when your folder is ready and your card has paid abroad.

Stage C5. Watch the page

Back to the short stages

Do. Open EPFL's fellowship page, opens in a new tab from October 2027 for the 2028 deadline. You are done when the form opens and you go back to "From today".