Conservatoire national des Arts et Métiers

History

Founded on 10 October 1794, during the French Revolution, it was then proposed by Abbé Henri Grégoire as a "depository for machines, models, tools, drawings, descriptions and books in all the areas of the arts and trades". The deserted Saint-Martin-des-Champs Priory (and particularly its Gothic refectory by Pierre de Montereau) was selected as the site of collection, which officially opened in 1802.

Originally charged with the collection of inventions, it has since become an educational institution. At the present time, it is known primarily as a grand-école and university for:

adults seeking higher education as engineering (multidisciplinary scientific program), master and bachelor's degrees, mostly through evening and/or remote classes in a variety of topics;

young students enrolling in training diplomas in apprenticeship;

international student of bachelors and masters taught in English.

The collection of inventions is now operated by the Musée des Arts et Métiers. The original Foucault pendulum was exhibited as part of the collection, but was moved to the Panthéon in 1995 during museum renovation. It was later reinstalled in the Musée des Arts et Métiers. On 6 April 2010, the cable suspending the original pendulum bob snapped causing irreparable damage to the pendulum and to the marble flooring of the museum.

The novel Foucault's Pendulum written by Umberto Eco deals greatly with this establishment, as the Foucault pendulum hung in the museum plays a great role in the storyline. The novel was published in 1988 prior to the pendulum being moved back to the Panthéon during the museum reconstruction.

On 25 November 1819, at the instigation of Duke Decazes, newly nominated as Minister of the Interior, a three-Chairs higher education is established at the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts: Applied Mechanical Engineering vested in Baron Charles Dupin; Applied Chemistry entrusted to Nicolas Clément; and Industrial Economics left with Jean Baptiste Say.

Missions and Values

The French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts is infused with the values of the Lumières, as part of the French enlightenment era, of the 18th Century French Humanism, and of the French encyclopedists, whose goal was to provide emancipation via knowledge for everyone; the latter being often followed by most Grande Ecole and Universities in France, along with Universalism and Cartesianism. This background paved the way to nowadays CNAM's values of meritocracy, solidarity and academic excellence.

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and as French public institution of higher education, it is assigned three missions:

Training throughout life (Lifelong learning);

Technological research and innovation;

Dissemination of scientific and technical culture.

These missions and values are reflected in CNAM's motto: "Omnes docet ubique", which means: "Teaching to everyone everywhere."

Campuses

Parisian campus

Out of the 70,000 students enrolled at CNAM (57.7% employees, 24% job seekers, 12% students, 6.3% self-employed), 36% are enrolled at the Parisian campus, 3% in Overseas France, 11% abroad and the rest in metropolitan France, of which 1,592 are enrolled at the Grande Ecole engineer school of CNAM: the EiCNAM. The Parisian campus and headquarters of the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts is located in one of the last medieval architectural area of Paris, in the historical district of Le Marais in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, at the former Benedictine priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, which church and core architectural style was inspired by the Basilica of Saint-Denis architecture built a few years earlier.

This large Cluniac monastery founded by King Henry the First of France in 1059–1060 on Merovingian vestige, is still visible today. The former gothic-style refectory hall dated from the 13th century remains until today and was reassigned as the library in the middle of the 19th century by the CNAM's architect: Léon Vaudoyer.

Campuses in the rest of Metropolitan France

CNAM is based in 160 other French cities. French regional CNAM Centres are financially independent but pedagogically linked to the CNAM public institution based in Paris (namely of enrolment, selection and evaluation of candidates), and their existence is governed by a specific ministry decree. Half of the regional CNAM centres budget is allocated by the French regional councils. A student should apply through the nearest French regional CNAM in terms of enrolment, in other words, someone living in Marseille should enrol in Marseille's regional center (PACA) and not in Paris, even if his/her desired curriculum is not available in Marseille. As the vast majority of continuing education curricula are taught online, continuing education students can most of the time attend them via their nearest CNAM regional centre. Shall some specific classes be available only in Paris or at another regional centre, the student can attend these courses on-site, shall it be required (for example laboratory sessions in Life Science, Physics or Chemistry). Regional centres providing Engineering diploma via the EiCNAM, the Grande Ecole Engineer School of CNAM are all certified by the French national committee responsible for evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions for the training of professional engineers in France (in French: Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur, abbr.: CTI). Some CNAM regional centres are hosted by other partner universities, for example the CNAM centre of Aix-en-Provence is located at the campus of the French Grande Ecole engineering and research school: Arts et Métiers ParisTech.

Campuses in overseas France

French Guiana

French Polynesia

Guadeloupe

Martinique

Mayotte

New Caledonia

Réunion

Campuses abroad

Source:

Africa:

Algeria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Djibouti

Gabon

Guinea

Ivory Coast

Lebanon: Network of 7 campus founded since 1971.

Madagascar

Mali

Mauritania

Morocco

Niger

Republic of the Congo

Senegal

Chad

Togo

Tunisia

America:

Haiti (in partnership with the State University of Haiti)

Asia:

China: Dongguan

Establishment in 2017 of the Franco-Chinese Institute DGUT-CNAM, in partnership with the Dongguan University of Technology (DGUT).

China: Wuhan

Faculties and Schools

Faculties

On 7 July 2016, the CNAM's board of directors enacted a reform via the directory of decisions number 2016-24 AG to 2016–33 AG, which goal was to create 16 national pedagogic teams (French: équipes pédagogiques nationales | abbr.: EPN) in lieu of the School for industrial sciences and technologies (French: écoles Sciences industrielles et technologies de l’information | abbr.: Siti) and the School for Management and Society Management et société (French: école Management et Société | abbr.: MS). Some Pedagogic Teams below are also sometimes Schools per se.

EPN 1: Building and energetics

EPN 2: School for Surveyors, Geometricians-Topographers (Abbreviation of the school name in French: ESGT)

EPN 3: Electronics, Electrotechnics, Automation, Measurement

EPN 4: Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

EPN 5: Computer Science and Engineering

EPN 6: Mathematics and Statistics

EPN 7: Chemical, pharmaceutical and Food Industries

EPN 8: Intechmer (Maritime Transport and Marine Biology)

EPN 9: Economics, Finance, Insurances, Banking (Efab)

EPN10: Accounting, Finance Monitoring, Audit (CCA)

EPN 11: Territories (Geography and Sociology)

EPN 12: Health and Solidarities

EPN 13: Labour

EPN 14: Law and Real Estate

EPN 15: Strategies and Management

Doctoral college, schools and research centres

Doctoral college and doctoral schools

The CNAM provides via its doctoral college PhD-curricula via distance-learning (along the job), or on-site. There are 91 PhD candidates enrolled at the EiCNAM Grande Ecole engineering School, and a total of 350 professors-researchers and academic staff for a total of 340 doctoral students from 40 different nationalities enrolled at CNAM worldwide, at which 60 thesis defence/examination take place yearly. The doctoral college of CNAM comprises two doctoral schools:

a doctoral school specialised in Science and Engineering (French: Sciences des métiers de l’ingénieur.e | abbr.: SMI), in partnership with the French Grande Ecole Arts et métiers (doctoral school code: ED 432),

and a doctoral school Abbé-Grégoire specialised in Humanities and Arts (ED 546).

Doctoral schools in partnership with other French Universities:

ED 591 : Physics, engineering sciences and energetics

ED 532 : Mathematics and informatics

ED 435 : Agriculture, biology, environment, health

ED 146 : Sciences, technology, health

Doctoral College of Paris-Saclay University.

Research centres and laboratories of CNAM

Cedric: Research centre in informatics and communication

CEET: Research centre for labour and employment

CRTD: Research centre for labour and development

Dicen-IdF: Information system in a digital era

DynFluid: Laboratory of fluid dynamics

Eren: Research team in food

Esycom: Electronics, communication systems and microsystems

Foap: Vocational training and professional apprenticeship

GBCM: Laboratory of genomics, bioinformatics and molecular chemistry

GeF: Laboratory of geomatics and real estate

HT2S: History of technosciences in our society

Lafset: Laboratory for refrigeration, industrial cooling, HVAC engineering, energetic and thermal systems

LCM: Shared laboratory of metrology (LNE-Cnam)

Lifse: Laboratory in fluid engineering and energetic systems

Lirsa: Interdisciplinary laboratory in the research for action, piloting and decision-making (applied to economics, law, management)

Lise: Interdisciplinary laboratory for sociology applied to economics

Partner research centres

GENIAL: Process engineering, food engineering

Lusac: University laboratory of applied science in Cherbourg – Brittany (Intechmer)

Metabiot: use of big data for the safety insurance of animal food (in cooperation with ANSES: the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety)

SayFood: Paris-Saclay Food and Bioproduct Engineering Research Unit (SayFood), in partnership with AgroParisTech, Inrae

IAT: Institute in aeronautics and aerodynamics

Curricula

Array of curricula

In 2022, amongst the 4366 curricula in total, the array of the Cnam's academic curricula spans the following:

949 Diploma registered at the National Directory of Professional Certifications (abbreviated in French: RNCP):

626 Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and PhDs, all designed to abide by the European Bologna Process, and thus complying with the European Credit Transfer System,

126 Engineering degrees (Grande Ecole and non-Grande Ecole degrees),

64 RNCP vocational certificates.

536 Diploma and certificates not registered at the RNCP:

241 CNAM Certificate,

89 CNAM Diploma.

2201 courses, as part of a certifying curriculum, of which around 84% are solely taught remotely.

657 continuing education course, i.e. perfecting classes resulting in a certification.

Other classes.

Grande école academic features

The French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts is a Grand Etablissment (like the prestigious Collège de France founded in 1530), but is also a Grande Ecole which provides Grande-Ecole degrees, i.e. solely Master's Degrees, MBAs and PhDs (Grande Ecoles do not bestow diplomas lower than a European Master's degree level). A Grande Ecole, literally "Great School", is a higher education institution and part of a French league of universities, which select students via national competitive entrance examinations (in French: concours) to safeguard meritocracy and impartiality. The French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts was one of the founding Schools of the Grande Ecole System in the wake of the French Revolution.

Grande Ecoles are separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. Grandes écoles, like CNAM, are elite academic institutions which enroll students via an extremely competitive process, and a significant proportion of their graduates occupy the highest levels of French society. Similar to Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in the UK, and C9 League in China, graduation from a grande école is considered the prerequisite credential for any top government, administrative and corporate position in France. The degrees are accredited by the Conférence des Grandes Écoles and bestowed upon by the Ministry of National Education (France). Higher education business and engineering degrees in France are organised into three levels thus facilitating international mobility: the Licence / Bachelor's degrees, and the Master's and Doctorat degrees. The Bachelor's and the master's degrees are organised in semesters: 6 for the Bachelor's and 4 for the Master's. Those levels of study include various "parcours" (in English: paths or curricula) based on UE (Unités d'enseignement or Modules, in English: Teaching Units or Modules), each worth a defined number of European credits (ECTS) and thus abiding by the Bologna Process of the European Union. A student accumulates those credits, which are generally transferable between curricula. A Bachelor's is awarded once 180 ECTS have been obtained (3 years of higher studies after high school, abbreviated in French as "bac+ 3"); a Master's is awarded once 120 additional credits have been reached (5 years of higher studies after high school, abbreviated in French as "bac+ 5", i.e. 2 additional years after a Bachelor's degree).

One of the prerequesite of a Grande Ecole (along with having the Grande Ecole-label), is to select students via national competitive examinations. The latter are well-acknowledged to be particularly stringent. While students prepare for these National Competitive examinations right after their high school diploma (often obtained with a magna cum laude or summa cum laude) during a two-year preparatory programme in high schools proposing such curricula; some other students will start an Undergraduate or Bachelor's degree and prepare for the national Competitive examinations along their studies at Universities or private Colleges in France or abroad. Both pathways have their own advantages and drawbacks.

Notable people

Louis de Broglie (academic staff). Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics in 1929, member of the governance committee of the CNAM in 1945 and member of the technical committee of the test laboratory of the CNAM in 1945.

Louis Pasteur (alumnus). Pasteur studied at the École Normale Supérieure and at the CNAM, chemist and biologist. He is regarded as one of the founders of modern bacteriology and has been honoured as the "father of bacteriology" and as the "father of microbiology".

Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot (alumnus). Carnot graduated from the École Polytechnique and from the CNAM, physicist, father of modern Thermodynamics and of the Carnot-Process.

Geneviève Meurgues (alumnus). French explorer, museologist, curator, conservator, chemical engineer and lecturer. As a professor at the National Museum of Natural History, she specialised in the conservation of natural history specimens. The Relictocarabus meurguesianus, a ground beetle discovered in Morocco was named in her honour.

Paul Doumer (alumnus). Doumer was one of the President of the Third French Republic.

Jacques de Vaucanson (donator). Engineer who invented the first all-metal lathe (a loom for weaving wavy fabrics) in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, gave his personal collection to the CNAM as well as his name to a street adjacent to the CNAM. As a token of his work, the Vaucanson Institute was established in 2010 by the CNAM.

Jean-Baptiste Say (alumnus and faculty). Classical economist, Say was professor at the CNAM, and at the Collège de France.

Mialy Rajoelina (alumnus). First lady of Madagascar. She is the spouse of Andry Rajoelina, the president of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar from 17 March 2009 until 25 January 2014 and president of Madagascar from 19 January 2019 until 14 October 2025.

Traditions

Vandermonde : secret society of the French Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, allegedly based on the Skull & Bones model of Yale University.

At the French Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, students are commonly (and also officially) called "auditeurs", referring to audience/listener (instead of "étudiants", in English: students).

Graduates from the Grande Ecole Engineering School: EiCNAM, receive coloured graduation scarf during the diploma bestowal ceremony, depending on the major they belong to:

Building and public works Engineering, Energetics Engineering, Nuclear Power Engineering,

IT Engineering,

Bioinformatics Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Bio-Engineering, Process Engineering, Risk Management Engineering,

Automation and Robotics Engineering, Electrical Engineering,

Electronic Systems Engineering, Electronic Systems, Telecommunication and IT Engineering, Electronic system and railway signalling Engineering,

Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering, Rail Operation Engineering,

Material Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering.

Foundation

In 1973, the Louis-de-Broglie Foundation was created at the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts by Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics Louis de Broglie along with Physics Nobel-Prize Laureate Louis Néel, and Fields Medallist René Thom, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of matter waves. It is now located at the French Academy of Sciences in Paris.

Affiliations and memberships

CNAM is a part of HeSAM (French: Hautes Écoles Sorbonne Arts et Métiers University), a cluster for higher education and research as a group of universities and institutions comprising 11 members and 4 associated institutions, totalling 110,000 enrolled students.

The members are:

École nationale supérieure des arts et métiers (Arts et Métiers)

CESI (enseignement)

French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts (CNAM)

École Boulle

École Duperré

École Estienne

École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art (ENSAAMA)

École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette (ENSAPLV)

École nationale supérieure de création industrielle (ENSCI – Les Ateliers)

Institut Français de la Mode (IFM)

Paris School of Business (PSB)