Access Requirements

General access requirements

Translated from  https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/fr/leg_res_01.php?ncda=39681&referant=l02

Art. 112. of the "Décret définissant le paysage de l'enseignement supérieur et l'organisation académique des études" :

§ 1. In accordance with the general requirements established by the academic authorities, students who have:

1. a master’s degree;

2. an academic degree similar to the one mentioned in the preceding paragraph awarded by a higher education institution in the Flemish Community or the German-speaking Community, or by the Royal Military Academy, by virtue of a decision of the academic authorities and in accordance with any additional requirements they may establish;

3. a foreign academic degree deemed equivalent to the one mentioned in paragraph 1, in accordance with this Decree, a European directive, an international convention or other legislation, in accordance with the same requirements.

The additional admission requirements referred to in paragraph 2 are intended to ensure that the student has acquired the knowledge and skills required for the studies in question. When the additional admission requirements consist of one or more additional course units, these may not represent more than 60 additional credits for the student, taking into account all the credits that he or she may otherwise use for admission. These course units are part of the student’s study programme.

§ 2. In accordance with the general requirements established by the academic authorities, a student who holds a title, diploma, degree or certificate of higher education, in the French Community or outside it, which does not grant him or her eligibility for admission to a specialised master’s course by virtue of the preceding paragraph, may nevertheless be admitted by the jury of the course in question, in accordance with the additional requirements that it establishes, if the totality of the higher education that he or she has completed or the expertise that he or she has acquired is valued by the jury to be at least 240 credits.

§ 3. By way of derogation from these general requirements, the academic authorities may also admit to a specialised master’s course holders of a title, diploma, degree or certificate awarded outside the French Community which, in that system of origin, grants direct eligibility for postgraduate studies, even if the studies sanctioned by these credentials are not organised into distinct degree courses or within a time period of at least five years.

Specific access requirements

1° The Advanced Master in Visual Cultures is directly accessible, without further training, to candidates holding :

Either an academic Master's degree, awarded in the French or Flemish Community of Belgium, in one of the following fields:
- Philosophy ;
- Theology ;
- Languages, literature and translation;
- History, art history and archaeology;
- Information and communication ;
- Political and social sciences ;
- Legal sciences ;
- Criminology;
- Economics and management ;
- Psychological and educational sciences;
or a similar degree awarded by the Royal Military Academy;

Or a second-cycle academic degree (licence, master) corresponding to one of the above-mentioned degrees awarded in the French-speaking Community, in accordance with the provisions prior to the decree of March 31, 2004, or in the Flemish-speaking Community of Belgium;

Or a foreign title or degree recognized by the French Community of Belgium as equivalent to one of those mentioned above.

For holders of any other diploma, Belgian or foreign, admission is based on an application file; provided that candidates can demonstrate personal or professional experience and/or previous academic results deemed sufficient by the admissions committee, by virtue of a decision of the latter and subject to the additional conditions it sets, candidates holding :

An academic master's degree other than those mentioned above, awarded in the French Community or Flemish Community of Belgium;

Or a second-cycle academic degree corresponding to one of the above-mentioned degrees, awarded in the French-speaking Community of Belgium under provisions predating the decree of March 31, 2004;

Or a foreign title or degree deemed comparable to one of those mentioned above and valued for at least 240 credits by the admissions committee.

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 B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. 
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 certificate issued by the University showing that the candidate has been taught in French may be accepted.
Examples of tests recognized by the jury for French: DELF or TCF. 

3° No credit transfer (exemption) will be granted for a course that led to a previous degree.

Access through the valorization of acquired experience
> Consult the Valorisation des acquis de l'expérience website

Candidates who do not meet the above admission requirements, but who have duly attested significant professional or personal experience related to the targeted field of study, may apply for admission to the Master of Specialization in Gender Studies on the basis of an individualized admission procedure under the conditions set out in art. 119 of the decree of November 7, 2013.

This personal or professional experience must correspond to at least five years of activity, with years of postgraduate study being taken into account at a rate of only one year per 60 credits acquired, up to a maximum of 2 years. During the assessment procedure (VAE file and interview), the jury verifies that the candidate's skills and knowledge are sufficient to successfully complete the studies.

For more information on the VAE admission procedure for the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters: https://uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/fial/vae.html.

Dossier-based access
File-based access means that, on the basis of the file submitted, access to the program can either be direct, or require additional training for a maximum of 60 ECTS credits, or be 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 comprising at least 4 years of higher education (equivalent to 240 European credits), leading to an undergraduate degree;
- For holders of a degree from outside Belgium:

an overall average of at least 60% (12/20) for the entire course of study completed at the home institution and leading to admission to this program;
official attestation of proficiency in the 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 that are deemed admissible are forwarded to the Faculty by Enrolment Services. Applications that do not meet these criteria are automatically rejected. 

Eligibility criteria 
Applications for admission are forwarded to the Faculty by UCLouvain's Registrar's Office, and are examined by the program's jury in accordance with the specific admission conditions 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 does not have to 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 candidate in his/her letter of motivation (training project in line with the program in question, coherence between the candidate's application and the program in question, etc.) Example: the language combination requested by the candidate is organized in the program. 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.

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

Admission and registration procedures
All applications for admission, enrolment or re-registration (from Belgian or international candidates) must be submitted online to the UCLouvain Enrolment Service: https://uclouvain.be/inscription.

Application deadlines: https://uclouvain.be/fr/etudier/inscriptions/calendrier-inscriptions.html
For further information on admission to this Master's program, please contact info-fial@uclouvain.be.