Our diplomas

Unlike licence degrees, the museology diploma is a "diplôme d'établissement", a diploma created and delivered by the school rather than the Education Secretary.

It includes three years of studying, with a main curriculum and one or two specialist subjects chosen by the student. It is the equivalent of a licence degree and students have a maximum of five years to complete it. 

Museology has been the École du Louvre's flagship subject for almost a century.

Also a "diplôme d'établissement", the diploma is given to students who successfully pass the first year of the second cycle, which includes a set of courses and seminars representing the current diversity of museology.

Also a "diplôme d'établissement", the special museology diploma is given solely to students who attended a Sorbonne-Universite master’s as well as the History of Art and Museum Studies course, partly run in English at SUAD (Sorbonne Abu-Dhabi).

This diploma is the equivalent of a master’s degree and is provided at the end of the two years of the second cycle. The second year of the second cycle, known as master 2 or M2, specialises in one of the following courses: Art history applied to collections, Museology, Mediation, Sensitive goods, origins and international stakes, Management of art works and preventive conservation and Art Market.

The École du Louvre is part of a scheme which provides three double master’s degrees: one with Paris’ Institut des sciences politiques (Sciences Po), one with the École superieure des sciences economiques et commerciales (ESSEC) and a bilingual masters degree with Heidelberg University in Germany.

The school offers a "diplôme d'établissement” at the end of a new course which students who previously obtained a masters degree can attend. For one year, students are taught contemporary methods of carrying out research in art history, archaeology and museology. Students with this diploma can directly access the École du Louvre’s third cycle.

Studying at the École du Louvre ends with a thesis. Following the same format and the same requirements as PhD theses at university, it is in most cases conducted with the help of the school and a second establishment such as a French or foreign university. A thesis defence as well as several other prerequisites give students access to the École du Louvre’s third cycle diploma.

The free third cycle diploma is given at the end of the same course as the third cycle diploma. However, it is not co-supervised by another university and is free in the sense that it allows more flexibility than the PhD model (the deadlines for the thesis, for example).

The École du Louvre also has preparatory classes which prepare students to various entrance exams.