The (; ; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited, public grande école and grand établissement of France. It is a member of the Conférence des Grandes écoles, and was one of the founding schools of the grande école system in 1794, along with the École polytechnique and École normale supérieure.

Despite its literal English translation, the term arts et métiers more accurately refers to the ‘practical’ arts and the study of industrial skills, techniques and design. The CNAM has historically been focused on areas of applied science and engineering, rather than the decorative or fine arts.

Headquartered in Paris, CNAM has campuses in every major French city, in overseas France and in every francophone African country, China, Haiti, Germany, and Switzerland. Founded in 1794 by the French bishop Henri Grégoire, CNAM's core mission is dedicated to provide education and conduct research for the promotion of science and industry. With 70,000 students and a budget of €174 million, it is the largest university in Europe in terms of Budget for distance learning and continued education, and in terms of enrolment, slightly ahead of the University of Hagen.

Under the aegis of the French Ministry of National Education, the National Directory of Professional Certifications and the Accreditation authority for French professional engineers, CNAM provides Grande Ecole and non-Grande Ecole certificates, diplomas, Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees and PhD's in Science, Engineering, Law, Management (AMBA-accredited), Finance, Accountancy, Urban planning and Humanities, all designed to abide by the European Bologna Process, and thus complying with the European Credit Transfer System. It is the only higher education institution in Europe to provide Physics, Chemistry and Life-Science engineer's degrees up to a PhD-level (some of which 100% remotely) via distance learning and via its so-called "hybrid learning" which includes intermittent laboratories classes concentrated during a whole week on-site.

The CNAM also hosts a museum dedicated to scientific and industrial inventions called the Musée des Arts et Métiers (English: the Industrial Design Museum), which welcomed 250,000 visitors in 2018. The museum is located on the Parisian campus of CNAM at 292 rue Saint Martin, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, in the historic quarter of the Marais.

History Founded on 10 October 1794, during the French Revolution,Michel Nusimovici, Les écoles de l'an III, 2010. 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".'LA CONVENTION ET LA CRÉATION DU CONSERVATOIRE' 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,Le pendule de Foucault perd la boule the cable suspending the original pendulum bob snapped causing irreparable damage to the pendulum and to the marble flooring of the museum.Foucault's pendulum is sent crashing to Earth http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=411529

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.The pendulum at the Pantheon is said to be a copy of the original that still hangs in an 11th-century chapel inside the Musée des Arts et Métiers.

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.

In June 2026, the conservatory entered the QS rankings, ranked 515 worldwideAbout Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM).

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: , 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

Campuses abroad Source:

Africa:

: Network of 7 campus founded since 1971.

America:

(in partnership with the State University of Haiti)

Asia:

: Dongguan Establishment in 2017 of the Franco-Chinese Institute DGUT-CNAM, in partnership with the Dongguan University of Technology (DGUT). : Wuhan Founding in 2012 of the Franco-Chinese Institute of Engineering and Management, in cooperation with the Wuhan University.

Europe:

In partnership with the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences | German: Hochschule Darmstadt) / The Lemanic Basin (Geneva Lake Region) CNAM Centre is a border-located and binational public higher education institute recognised by both the Swiss and French higher education systems, via the EduQua Label (The Swiss quality label for further education institutions). Classes are given in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, Annemasse and at the University of Geneva in Accounting, Economics, Engineering, IT, Law, Management and Real Eastate Management.

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 EPN 16: Innovation

Schools and institutes of CNAM Ecole Pasteur-Cnam: School specialised in public health Ecole Vaucanson: first National Management and Engineering Grande Ecole Higher Education Institution for students coming from vocational baccalaureate curricula. EiCnam Ecole d'ingénieur.e: "Ei-" standing for: Ecole d'Ingénieur (in English: Engineering School), Grande Ecole curriculum, which like any other Grande Ecole selects students via a national competitive examination. ENASS: French National School for Insurances Enjmin: School specialised in video games and interactive media ESGT: School for surveyor/geometrician-topographer ICH: Institute specialised in Law applied to Real Estate ICSV: Institute specialing in Sales and Marketing FFI: College for Refrigeration, Industrial Cooling and HVAC engineering IHIE-SSET: Institute for Hygiene and Food Safety IIM: Institute specialised in Management Inetop: Institute for the study of Labour, career counselling, personal development, education INTD: Institute for Culture, Information, Technology and Society