Study Architecture in France

Written and prepared by Ramman Ismail

Are you a refugee and would like to become an architect in France? This article is made for you!

To study architecture in France, you must absolutely integrate a national school of architecture ENSA with a level of study of Bac +5: Degree/Licence 3 years, Master`s degree, first and second year.

There are 22 schools of architecture (see the link for the list of schools in France with the address, email, and phone number of each school).

You can enter an ENSA with a general baccalaureat, technical baccalaureat, a BTS, or even continue with your studies that you had already started at home.

What are the steps to follow?

You have to follow certain procedures and do a few administrative steps (welcome to France).

To be more precise and clear, the procedure depends mainly on your level of study and your status in France:

You should know that before there was a competitive examination, and nowadays the admission procedures are different depending on the school.

• Did you get your baccalaureat in France?

The only procedure to follow is the Parcoursup. An article will soon be published on the Parcoursup.

• Do you have refugee status, have you got your baccalaureat from your country of origin, have you got a BTS, or have you already done a few years of architecture in your country of origin?

In this case, the procedures vary according to the school:

1. The yellow file: a file with which foreigners register in schools and universities in France. To download it, click here (here)
2. The VAE: validation of prior learning and experience (see our article for the procedures here).

There is absolutely no need to be afraid or stressed when reading the procedure because it is very simple. There are indeed 3 different names, but 85% of them contain the same information (first names, dates of birth, where you come from, etc…), what changes is mostly the papers and documents you are asked for, the more experience you have, the more papers and justifications are asked for. Still, it is essential to note that if you graduate from high school, you will never be asked for a portfolio since you have never studied architecture, but you may be asked to attach what you know how to do, for example, one or two drawings.

The MOST important part of the requested documents is the motivation letter/cover letter and your CV.

⚠️ Attention

You really need to explain well, be clear, and show your motivation for enrolling in a school of architecture.

To know the procedure to follow, you have to contact the school directly or go to their website, because sometimes the procedures change from one year to another and each school has more or less its own approach.

It’s important to know that the date to apply changes depending on the school. Usually, the application opens mid-November for those schools that ask to apply with the youth file or the VAE; for the others, it’s between January and March, but to be sure, it’s better to contact the school or check their website from the beginning of November.

What to do after receiving the answers and dialogue with the National Schools of Architecture?

Once your application has been selected, you will either be directly admitted or invited to an interview. The purpose of this interview is to find out more about you: why you would like to study architecture and join the school that invited you.

There is no need to bring drawings or works with you to the interview; you have to talk about yourself, what inspires you, why you chose architecture, etc…

It is important to know that today, there are between 2,500 and 3,000 people who apply to every school of architecture in France every year. The school makes a first selection based on the candidate’s file (they look at the baccalaureat/high school grades, the student’s background, etc…) and chooses about 700 students to invite to a motivational interview. The school then selects between 95 and 120 students (depending on the school’s capacity) to integrate them into their school.

To see a list of these schools and their contact information click here.

And to see the distribution of the 22 schools in France click here.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave us a comment.