How University Admission Works in Madagascar

The baccalaureat sets your path

University admission in Madagascar starts with the baccalaureat (Bacc), the exam that ends secondary school. You need a Bacc pass to register at any public or private higher education institution, and the series you sat (literary, scientific, technical) shapes which faculties will take you.

There is no single national placement exam that assigns every school leaver to a course. You apply directly to the faculty or institute you want, using your Bacc result as your main qualification.

How faculties select students

Most public faculties select on merit. Your Bacc grade and mention (passable, assez bien, bien, tres bien) decide whether you get a place, especially in courses where applicants outnumber seats. The University of Antananarivo , the country's largest public university, runs this grade-based selection across faculties including Law and Political Science, Letters and Human Sciences, and Economics, Management and Sociology.

Some faculties add a concours, a written or oral entrance exam, on top of your Bacc result. This applies to programs with more demand than capacity, most often medicine, engineering schools, and some computer science and business tracks. Check the faculty's admission notice each year, since which programs run a concours changes.

What you need to apply

A typical application file at a public university includes:

• A handwritten application letter addressed to the faculty dean or institute director.

• A certified copy of your Bacc certificate, or the results attestation while you wait for the certificate.

• A receipt for your registration fee, around 30,000 Ariary at the University of Antananarivo .

• Proof that you are under 25 years old and in good standing with Service National obligations, both required for public university registration.

Requirements vary by faculty and institution, so confirm the exact list on the admission notice before you submit anything.

Language and degree structure

French is the main language of instruction at most public faculties, alongside Malagasy for some courses. If your Bacc was in a technical or vocational series, check that your target faculty accepts it, since competitive scientific tracks often favor scientific series Bacc holders.

Public and private institutions in Madagascar use the LMD system (Licence, Master, Doctorat), shared across most Francophone African countries. A Licence takes three years, a Master two more, and a Doctorate a further three years or more. Your admission places you into Licence 1 (L1), the first year of the first cycle.

The six public universities

Madagascar has six public universities, each anchored in a major region. Pick the one closest to your field or home region to cut living costs.

Application timeline

Bacc results come out mid-year, and university registration opens shortly after, running through the following weeks. Each faculty publishes its own registration window and any concours date on its own notice boards and pages, so track your target university directly instead of relying on one fixed national calendar.

If you don't get a spot

If your Bacc mention does not clear the cut for your first-choice faculty, look at other routes:

• A related faculty at the same university with lower demand that year.

• One of the other five public universities outside the capital, where competition for popular courses runs lower.

• A private institute. Madagascar has roughly 150 private higher education establishments with Ministry-authorized (habilite) programs, though only a small number hold full institutional accreditation, so confirm the specific program's status with MESUPRES before enrolling.

• Resitting the Bacc or a specific faculty's concours the following year, if your target program stays highly selective.

Confirm any private institute's accreditation status before you enroll and pay fees. Accredited status protects the value of your eventual degree.