The (English: National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts; abbr. CNAM) is an AMBA-accredited French grande école and grand établissement. It is a member of the Conférence des Grandes écoles, which is an equivalent to the Ivy League schools in the United States, Oxbridge in the United Kingdom, the C9 League in China, or the Imperial Universities in Japan. CNAM is one of the founding Schools of the Grande école system, with École polytechnique and Ecole Normale Supérieure in 1794, in the wake of the French Revolution.
Headquartered in Paris, it has campuses in every major French cities, 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 hosts also a museum dedicated to scientific and industrial inventions: Musée des Arts et Métiers (English: the Industrial Design Museum) which welcomed 250,000 visitors in 2018, and is located on the Parisian campus of the French National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts at 292 rue Saint Martin, in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, in the historical area of the city named Le Marais.
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 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 1989 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.