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° Candidates with a master's degree [120], i.e. :

• the academic degree of architect or master of architecture ;
• the academic degree of master in civil engineering/architecture, master in civil construction engineering, or master in art history and archaeology (all orientations);
• a graduate academic degree corresponding to one of the above-mentioned degrees and awarded under provisions predating the effects of the decree of November 7, 2013;
• the master's degree in landscape architecture.

Candidates with :

• a 2nd cycle university or non-university academic degree, attesting to studies of at least 120 credits, issued in the French-speaking Community of Belgium and attesting to a high degree of qualification in one of the disciplines covered by the Master of Specialization ;
• a foreign title or degree, or one awarded in the Flemish Community, the German-speaking Community, the Federal State or the Royal Military Academy, attesting to a high degree of qualification in one of the disciplines covered by the Master of Specialization.
• If the degree in question is not a second-cycle degree, it must at least grant access to the corresponding second cycle (without additional credits) and be supplemented by competencies, all of which must be evaluated by the admissions committee for a total of at least 300 credits.

2° Candidates who do not hold a higher education degree from the French Community of Belgium (or from a country where French is the sole official language) must provide proof of sufficient proficiency in French at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference.
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 from a university confirming instruction in French may be accepted.
Examples of tests recognized by the admissions committee for French include: DELF ou TCF.

Access based on application
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 5 years of higher education (equivalent to 300 ECTS credits), leading to a Master's degree;
• For holders of a diploma obtained outside Belgium, an overall average of at least 60% (12/20) for the course of study completed in the home institution and giving access to this program;
• For holders of a diploma obtained outside the French-speaking Community of Belgium, official attestation of proficiency in the language(s) at the required level (see specific admission conditions), 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 2026-2027 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.