The École Supérieure d’Art et de Design (ESAD) in Valenciennes belongs to a national network of public higher schools of art and design and contributes to research in art and design alongside ESAC–Cambrai and ESA-Nord Dunkerque-Tourcoing within a joint research unit called HYPER.LOCAL. At the regional level, ESAD-Valenciennes represents higher artistic education sector in Hauts-de-France alongside the 9 other establishments whose courses can be accessed via this information portal.

In 2019 ESAD, representing its conurbation, became part of the Université Polytechnique des Hauts-de-France (UPHF), a unique new academic, cultural and professional entity created by uniting the Université de Valenciennes and three establishments with their own legal identities (ESAD–Valenciennes, ESAC–Cambrai and INSA – Institut National de Sciences Appliquées). This experiment, which may continue for 10 years, will lead either to making the new establishment permanent or to continuation of the current constituent entities. This grouping consolidates higher education in its dedicated area and opens up new prospects in terms of education and research for the teaching staff and students.

The new educational configuration required for the new school year in 2020 will be prepared in 2019–2020 with a programme combining talks, debates, workshops and other activities. In this context, ESAD–Valenciennes will, like ESAC–Cambrai, retain all the characteristics regarding the status, autonomy, organisation and objects of higher education establishments under the aegis of the French Ministry of Culture, which defines and regulates the legal framework for higher artistic studies and validates national diplomas awarded in conformity with the Bologna Accord of 1999.

Studies lead to the Diplôme National d’Art (DNA – 3 years, BA level) and to the Diplôme National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique (DNSEP – 5 years, MA level), which can be continued in a third cycle (post-diploma, doctorate, DSRA, DSRD): http://www.andea.fr/fr/recherche/070613-troisiemes-cycles

ESAD–Valenciennes’ twin programme, with its Art and Space/Social Design options, gives it a powerfully singular identity based on the transversality of artistic teaching and creative issues in a changing world. In both art and design, the school puts the emphasis on grounded practice, engaged with its context and aware of scale and the relation to the public in a process of continuous experimentation.

Open day: Saturday 13 February 2021