Project "École du Louvre 2021-2022"
The École du Louvre
A higher education institution for the museums sector
The École du Louvre is a higher education institution overseen by the French Ministry of Culture. Founded in 1882, it educates students in how to look at artworks and objects. Its annual intake of 1,800-plus students of all backgrounds and nationalities, selected by competitive examination, study for bachelor’s or master’s degrees or doctorates or for the competitive examinations governing access to the profession of conservator-restorer, with a view to working in museums, heritage or the art world.
The school provides tuition in archaeology, history of art, epigraphy, anthropology, the history of societies and museology. It has a unique teaching approach based on direct study of material evidence from different cultures, including artworks, objects, collections, sites and monuments. Situated in the heart of the Louvre Palace, in addition to lectures, it offers special tutorial sessions in situ in the galleries of the Louvre and other museums and galleries in Paris and the surrounding area or worldwide with the aid of digital technologies. As a vocational school, it offers master’s degrees in a wide range of fields, catering to the needs of today’s public- and private-sector museums and heritage sites in France and the rest of the world. In addition, it welcomes nearly 12,000 auditeurs libres (occasional students), who can attend certain classes from the tertiary education programmes and daytime and evening courses specifically designed for them, courses focusing on particular regions, introductory courses, junior classes for younger students and, since 2020, online courses available to everyone, everywhere.
As a place of learning, the École du Louvre is outward-looking. It has formed numerous partnerships with French and international institutions, has a thriving research team, plays a dynamic role in academic life and publishes dissertations, reference works, specialist publications and an online research journal.
The École du Louvre in figures
- 1,602 entrance exam candidates
- 330 are admitted
- 770 professors, associate professors, lecturers lecturers and other teaching staff
- 2103 students
- Undergraduates
- 1054 students
- Annual tuition fees: €438
- Master’s
- 447 students
- Annual tuition fees: €633
- Doctorates
- 73 students
- Annual tuition fees: €274
- 14 students in partnership with the Sorbonne Abu Dhabi
- 14 dual degree external students (Science Po Paris, ESSEC, Paris XI)
- Partnerships with 23 regional partner towns or cities
- 12,000 auditeurs libres out of a total of 16,000 students enrolled
- 100 students preparing for the heritage curator examination
· Annual tuition fees: €589
· 2,550 tutorials in the presence of artworks
· 401 partner and seminar students
· 71 students accepted by equivalence
· 582 work placements arranged in France
· 27 overseas work placements
· 26% of students on scholarships (undergraduate and postgraduate taught courses)
The library in figures
- 760m2
- 1,200 linear metres of storage
- Open Monday to Friday, 9.00 a.m.‒7.00 p.m.
- 38,000 publications
- 150 reader stations
- 1 library curator
- 15 library staff (librarians, archivists and receptionists)
The Research Centre
As a higher education institution overseen by the French Ministry of Culture, the École du Louvre conducts academic research in the fields of art history, the history of civilisations, archaeology, anthropology and museology. To strengthen and coordinate the school’s research activity, it has a research department consisting of permanent and associate research fellows, research associates, post-doctoral students, guest researchers and postgraduate students. Today, the school’s community of around seventy research students is rapidly expanding, and one of the objectives of the ‘École du Louvre 2021‒2022’ project was to provide this community with adequate working conditions for their research activities and for future development. The creation of the Research Centre fulfils this need, providing a facility that is able to welcome guest researchers from France and abroad, enhancing the school’s profile and offering genuine visibility to the research conducted at the École du Louvre. Research is, of course, inseparable from teaching. All higher education institutions connect the two and Claire Barbillon, who herself combined teaching and research for many years, has long believed that conducting research alongside teaching results in the best teaching.
The Research Centre in figures
- 80m2
- 3 permanent research fellows with teaching responsibilities
- 5 associate research fellows
- 11 research associates
- 73 PhD students
- 1 coordinator
Documentation and IT service
The programme of works included extensive restructuring of the documentation areas and redevelopment of the documentation and IT services, which were comprehensively reorganised to improve staff working conditions.
The cafeteria
For full-time students, auditeurs libres, teachers and researchers, there can be no community life without social interactions, and what better place for them than a cafeteria? In tandem with the redevelopment of the Library, the Cafeteria has been reorganised and refurbished to make it a welcoming social space where people can meet and talk.