Access Requirements

1° Student must hold a first level university degree.

2° Candidates who do not hold a higher education diploma from the French Community of Belgium (or from a country where French is the only official language) must provide proof of sufficient mastery of the French language at level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference. All skills must have been assessed and passed (written and oral comprehension, written and oral production).
The official certificate must be issued by an organization recognized as a full member by ALTE (see https://alte.org/Our-Full-Members).
Examples of tests recognized by the jury for French: DALF or TCF.

In addition, all students applying for a Master's degree in French and Romance languages and literature, general orientation, must provide proof of having reached level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference in the second Romance language (Spanish/Italian) included in the program, in each skill (written and oral comprehension, written and oral production).

Examples of tests recognized by the jury for Spanish: DELE B2, CIELE B2 (*)
Examples of tests recognized by the jury for Italian: CELI 3, CILS 2, DILI B2 (*)

(*) In the absence of an official certificate issued by an organization recognized as a full member by ALTE (see https://alte.org/Our-Full-Members), a proof of completion of language courses at the required level in the student's previous academic career, officially attested (diploma, transcripts, university certificate) may be accepted. The jury reserves the right to request an official attestation issued by a recognized organization if it deems this necessary.

3° To have developed the following skills in the context of their previous academic training:

• knowledge of French and Romance literature and linguistics (notions, genres, trends, authors, reference theories, etc.);
• the production of a discourse that adequately and rigorously integrates the vocabulary, notions and concepts specific to each of these disciplines;
• the mobilization of knowledge acquired in the various fields of the human sciences for the analysis of a literary text and a linguistic corpus;
• mastery of the standard French language, both orally and in writing, and production of a university-level oral/written discourse in French;
• the receptive and productive mastery of one of the two Romance languages provided for in the curriculum (Spanish or Italian);

at the end of a bachelor's programme including at least the following 100 specific credits:

• 15 credits of general training (philosophy, history, arts, language sciences, criticism of sources, etc.);
• 10 credits of general and comparative linguistics and literature;
• 55 credits in French language and French literature (history of language and literature, literary analysis, historical linguistics, grammar, Old/Middle French, Belgian literature, etc.) ;
• 20 credits in Romance languages and literatures (Spanish/Italian).

In the absence of sufficient training in one or more of these subjects, supplementary classes will be integrated into the master's programme (from 15 credits to a maximum of 60 credits). This preparatory module is established by the jury on the basis of the student's previous course of study.

4° Students wishing to pursue a master's degree with a teaching focus must have a degree of the French Community of Belgium; failing this, they will have to pass a French language proficiency examination to demonstrate that their command of written and spoken French is equivalent to Level C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (for further information, visit https://uclouvain.be/en/study/inscriptions/french-language-master-teaching.html).

> It is possible, under certain conditions, to use one's personal and professional experience to enter a university course without having the required qualifications. However, validation of prior experience does not automatically apply to all courses. Find out more about Validation of priori experience.

Candidates who do not fulfil the abovementioned admission requirements, but who have duly attested significant experience relevant to the field of study in question, may apply for admission to the programme on the basis of an individualised admission procedure.

For more information on the procedure for admission by validation of learning from experience (VAE) in the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters: https://uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/fial/valorisation-des-acquis-de-l-experience-vae.html.

Access based on application : access may be granted either directly or on the condition of completing additional courses of a maximum of 60 ECTS credits, or refused.

Admissibility criteria 
A candidate's application will be deemed admissible if it meets all of the following criteria:

• Candidate's diploma issued by an institution recognized by WHED (see https://www.whed.net/home.php)
• Previous course of study including at least 3 years of higher education (equivalent to 180 European credits), leading to an undergraduate degree;
• For holders of a degree from outside Belgium:

1. an overall average of at least 60% (12/20) for the entire course of study completed at the home institution and giving access to this program;
2. official attestation of proficiency in language(s) at the required level (see specific entry requirements), to be attached to the application file. The official attestation must be issued by an organization recognized as a full member by ALTE (see https://alte.org/Our-Full-Members).

If a document is missing from the online application, it must be justified (see UCLouvain Enrolment Department's frequently asked questions, in particular "What do I do if my online application asks for a document I don't yet have?")

Applications deemed admissible are forwarded to the Faculty by Enrolment Services. Applications that do not meet these criteria are automatically rejected. 

Eligibility criteria 
Applications submitted to the Faculty by UCLouvain's Enrolment Department are examined by the program's jury in accordance with the specific conditions of access detailed above.
The jury decides on the admissibility of candidates on the basis of the information contained in their application file, the quality of the training they have undergone and the results they have obtained.
When examining the application, the jury will pay particular attention to the following points: 

• Consistency between the candidate's previous academic career and the prerequisites for the targeted program. The match between the candidate's academic background and the UCLouvain bachelor's degree giving direct access to the master's program need not be perfect, but the skills acquired (see specific access conditions) must be close; Example: for an application for admission to a master's program in modern languages and literature, the candidate's previous training includes courses in languages and literature in both modern languages.
• Grades obtained in the program's major disciplines (see specific entry requirements);
• Arguments put forward by the applicant in his or her cover letter (training project in line with the program in question, coherence between the applicant's application and the program in question, etc.) Example: the language combination requested by the applicant is organized in the program in question.
• Original covering letter. An original covering letter is expected, explaining the personal training project. Any plagiarism or use of artificial intelligence in writing the letter to the jury will result in the application being disqualified. 
• Experience gained. If the access diploma was obtained more than 5 years ago, it is imperative that the experience acquired since leaving school is directly related to the field of study of the programme applied for.

Changes to the conditions of access to the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters for 2025-2026 will be available in this document .