Access Requirements

Master course admission requirements are defined by the French Community of Belgium Decree of 7 November 2013 defining the hiher education landscape and the academic organisation of courses.

General and specific admission requirements for this programme must be satisfied at the time of enrolling at the university.

Unless explicitly mentioned, the bachelor's, master's and licentiate degrees listed in this table or on this page are to be understood as those issued by an institution of the French, Flemish or German-speaking Community, or by the Royal Military Academy.

In the event of the divergence between the different linguistic versions of the present conditions, the French version shall prevail.



Specific access requirements

Student must hold a first level university degree.

Provide proof of a sufficient level in French (B1 of the European Framework Reference).

Student must prove skills in the following subjects:

  • Ancient oriental culture and civilisation;
  • Ancient oriental history and society;
  • Ancient oriental language and literature;
  • Human sciences (philosophy, history of Antiquity, arts and civilisations, source criticism, etc.);
  • Language science, modern languages and literature.

Les 30 credits of the Minor in Antiquity: Egypt, Eastern World, Greece, Rome, the Minor in Oriental Studies or the Minor in Arabic language and Islamic civilization may satisfy these requirements.

In the absence of sufficient training in one or several of these subjects, prerequisites will be added to the student's master’s programme (15 to 60 credits). This preparatory module will be made up by the jury (small panel) according to the student’s previous studies.

Course equivalences are submitted for approval to the jury (small panel).

University Bachelors

Diploma Special Requirements Access Remarks
UCLouvain Bachelors
Bachelor in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Oriental Studies Direct access
Any other bachelor Access based on application In case of admission, programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)
Others Bachelors of the French speaking Community of Belgium
Bachelor in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Oriental StudiesHaving studied two fields in the bachelor's programme (among Ancient Egypt, Ancient Near East, Greek, Biblical languages, Byzantium, Medieval Near East, Islam and the Arab world and/or India) allowing the choice of two sections in the master's programme Access with additional training Maximum 60 credits of supplementary classes integrated into the master's programme

If the UCLouvain Admissions Office considers the enrolment application sufficiently complete, it will submit the application to the faculty for a decision.
Other bachelor Access based on application In case of admission, programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)
Bachelors of the Dutch speaking Community of Belgium
Bachelor in de Oosterse talen en culturen (including the study of ancient oriental languages)
Bachelor in de Taal- en regiostudies (including the study of ancient oriental languages)
Access based on application In case of admission, programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)
Foreign Bachelors
Bachelor in Languages and Literatures
Bachelor in History, in Art History and in Archeology
Access based on application In case of admission, programme to be determined depending on the students educational background (consult Acces on the file)

Non university Bachelors

> Find out more about links to the university

Only applicable to graduates of higher education institutions of the French Community of Belgium

Holders of a 2nd cycle University degree

Diploma Special Requirements Access Remarks
"Licenciés"
Licence en langues et littératures orientales Access based on application In case of admission, programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)
Masters
Master [60] in Ancient Languages and Literatures : Oriental Studies Direct access Programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)
Taking into account the student's educational background will allow 45 to 60 credits to be exempted.
Master [120] in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Oriental Studies, second focus Direct access At the end of Master 120, each focus of the Master [120] in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Oriental Studies can be obtained in a new programme of 30 credits.
Master [120] in Ancient Languages and Literatures: Classics Access based on application Programme to be determined depending on the student's educational background (consult Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration)

Holders of a non-University 2nd cycle degree

Only applicable to graduates of higher education institutions of the French Community of Belgium

Access based on validation of professional experience

> 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/vae.html (https://uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/fial/vae.html).

Access based on application

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.

If the students' educational background is incomplete, supplementary classes may be integrated into their master's programme.

Students with a Belgian degree
Students whose previous educational background is not included in the above-mentioned admission requirements may apply for admission according to the procedure described below.

Students with an international degree (EU)
Students whose previous educational background is not included in the above-mentioned admission requirements may apply for admission according to the procedure described below.

Students with an international degree (outside the EU)
Students holding an undergraduate and/or postgraduate degree from a university outside Europe may apply for admission, provided they have obtained at least a 55% (or 11/20) general average for all successful academic years at their home university.
Applications that do not meet this minimum average requirement will be automatically rejected.
However, this may be waived provided that the applicant has duly attested significant professional experience (consult Validation of learning from experience).

The conditions for admission on the basis of a submitted dossier have changed in 2023-2024 compared to 2022-2023. They can be consulted here.

Admission and Enrolment Procedures for general registration

Requests for further information regarding admission to this Master's programme should be addressed to Ms. Fiorella Flamini, Study Adviser (conseiller.etudes-fial@uclouvain.be) of the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters.

All applications for admission, enrolment or re-enrolment (from a Belgian or international candidate) must be submitted online to the UCLouvain Enrolment Service (SIC): https://uclouvain.be/en/study/inscriptions.

If a Faculty's authorisation or derogation is requested by the UCLouvain Enrolment Service (SIC), the request for authorisation must be submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy, Arts and Letters, in accordance with the procedure described on the page: https://uclouvain.be/fr/facultes/fial/admission-et-inscription.html.