Studying at ÉSAD Pyrénées

Studying at an art school means taking the time to embark on a creative journey and to explore a range of unusual professions. It means preparing the ground on which to base a choice that will affect your entire future. The courses offered are part of the higher education curriculum. The diplomas awarded, DNA and DNSEP, are delivered within the European system and recognized at the grade of licence and master, evaluated by the Ministry of Higher Education and validated by the Ministry of Culture.

If you’re drawn to the world of art and creation, the know-how and methodology acquired at our school will provide you with the foundations for thinking about your work in an innovative way. Our teaching and research activities, as well as exchanges with other research centers and institutions, will help you integrate into today’s art and design scene, and give you the opportunity to join post-graduate and doctoral programs at art schools and universities.

The art, design and culture professions are not closed in on themselves. In a world on the move, with no fixed ground, our professions are constantly reinventing themselves, inventing with you, responding both to a generous aspiration and to the profound need, for our land, to do things together and to do things differently. In an art school, you’ll learn to do not only with your head, but also with your hands and your talent.

An art college is also a place of learning for all, and a place of continuing education. The picture would not be complete without mentioning the many partnerships in New Aquitaine and Occitania, as well as international exchanges, which mark the school’s openness to the cultural life of its territories, enabling students to immerse themselves in the different aspects of the professions that may be theirs tomorrow.

The first cycle lasts three years, or 6 semesters, and leads to the Diplôme National d’Art (DNA). The second cycle lasts two years, or 4 semesters, and leads to the Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (DNSEP).

Semester assessments

Assessment includes a continuous assessment component and a half-yearly assessment, which consists of a presentation of work to a panel of judges.

• Continuous assessment: during courses and workshops, by the teacher in charge, in the form of individual or group interviews, attendance checks, end-of-workshop assessments, written tests, assessment of the quality of work submitted and personal approach. The main aim is to ensure that the student is making satisfactory progress.

• Semester assessment: at the end of each semester, the student presents his or her work for the semester to a jury of teachers and the year’s coordinator. The assessment covers both the content and the formal and critical presentation of the dossier, as well as the wealth of references. The assessment is not a general evaluation, but rather a pedagogical sequence distinct from other evaluation periods and methods. Its aim is to assess the student’s ability to present his or her work (in discourse and in space) and to self-evaluate his or her approach. It is not intended to replace prior assessments in each discipline, particularly in the plastic arts.

Diplomas

• DNA: the diplôme national d’art exam, lasting thirty minutes, takes the form of an interview with the jury, including the student’s presentation of a plastic project accompanied by a selection of plastic works and a written document chosen from those produced during semesters 5 and 6. The jury for the diplôme national d’art, appointed by the director of the school, is made up of three members: two qualified personalities from outside the school and a teacher from the school.

• DNSEP: the DNSEP exam consists of two parts: a twenty-minute dissertation and a forty-minute visual arts presentation before a jury. The jury is made up of five members: a representative of the school chosen from among the teaching staff and four qualified personalities chosen from the relevant field of activity.

Like all European higher education establishments, the École supérieure d’art et de design des Pyrénées applies the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). The ECTS makes it possible to compare and translate the results acquired in different institutions. Students can therefore build up their studies throughout Europe and have them fully recognized.