Top Belgian universities

Top Belgian universities:

Several of Belgium’s universities are regularly rated among the top 200 universities in the world.

Katholieke Universiteit(KU) Leuven located near Brussels is the oldest existing Catholic university in the world, founded in 1425, and Belgium’s biggest university. It offers courses in 11 Belgian cities and remains an important center of higher learning and scientific research catering to more than 40,000 students, of which around 16 percent are international. The university’s world-famous library (with its 30 subsidiaries) has more than four million books and some 15,000 periodicals.

Université Catholique de Louvain(UCL) was originally part of KU Leuven but was moved to the French-speaking area of Brussels around 1970 as a result of changes in the education system. It combines the traditional with the modern, attracting some of the most qualified students, researchers and teachers from Belgium and beyond, with almost one-fifth of the student population coming from abroad.

Université Libre de Bruxelles(ULB) has one of the highest rates of foreign students in Belgium, constituting one third of the student population. It was founded in 1834 and includes several university hospitals. It also manages zones devoted to research and contributed to the education of four Nobel Prize winners, the most recent being François Englert for his part in theorising the Higgs particle, in addition to Jules Bordet for Medicine in 1919, Albert Claude for Medicine in 1974, and Ilya Prigogine for Chemistry in 1977. The university is also a founding member of the International Forum of Public Universities (IFPU) and works in partnership with the Universities of Oxford, Berkeley and Paris IV, among others.

Ghent University or UGent, became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium in 1930, and is now attended by more than 40,000 students, including a sizeable international crowd that is attracted to the university’s science and engineering programs. It offers advanced degree programmes, many of them in English, and boasts several Nobel Prize winners over the course of the university’s history.

University of Liègefounded in 1817, is the public university of the Walloon Brussels Community and is part of the Wallonia-Europe University Academy. There are some 22,000 students across 11 faculties, comprising around 20 percent of foreign students. It has a large focus on facilitating mobility, and its practices have received EU recognition. Honorary degrees have been awarded to individuals such as Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Salman Rushdie.

Vrije Universiteit Brussel(VUB) is the Dutch Language University in Brussels, initially formed as a part of the French-speaking Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) before becoming a university in its own right in 1970 when significant legislative changes heralded in a new educational era. Many courses are available in English, including Master’s and PhD degrees.

Universiteit Antwerpen (UA) history is grounded in commerce and is the product of three joined institutions. With some 13 percent of its 21,000 student population coming from abroad, it offers several postgraduate courses in English across nine faculties. UA has close ties to Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), Antwerp Management School (AMS) and other higher education institutions that belong to the Antwerp University Association.

Vlerick Business Schoolis the only Belgian school to hold triple accreditation from Equis, AMBA and the American AACSB. It is also Europe’s oldest business and management school, founded in 1953 by Professor André Vlerick. It recently added a new campus in the centre of Brussels, in addition to its Belgian campuses in Leuven and Ghent, and St Petersburg, Russia. The schools benefit from alliances with more than 40 international business schools, and host around 6,800 people in postgraduate management and executive development programs.

International institutions in Belgium

Several international institutions have been established as part of Belgian universities and colleges or simply set up to offer their own graduate and postgraduate programs.

Brussels School of International Studies(BSIS) is a postgraduate school tied to the University of Kent in Brussels. Located in a newly acquired facility overlooking its partner schools, the BSIS offers postgraduate programs in politics, international relations, law and economics.

College of Advertising and Designis a higher education art college specializing in design, advertising, graphic and web design, interior architecture, and digital animation. It is one of the few colleges in Belgium and France to provide an English/American-style education and is attended by some 170 students.

CERIS(Centre Européen de Recherches Internationales et Stratégiques) is a postgraduate school offering a Master’s course in international politics and a Master’s in development policy, plus postgraduate certificates, which can be studied externally.

College of Europeis a unique and innovative postgraduate institute of European studies. Founded in 1948 and located in Bruges and in Natolin (Warsaw, Poland), it is financed by the EU governments and offers one-year Master’s degrees. Graduate studies are in international relations, law, political and administrative sciences, economics, and general European studies.

United Business Instituteshave been offering since many years a MBA program in the heart of Brussels, alongside their BA and DBA programs. The school is able to offer European validation by the Middlesex University London, and also facilitates the transfer of business academic credits for both incoming and outgoing students.

University of Marylandoffers undergraduate and graduate courses covering arts, science, business and management, information technology and more. In Belgium it operates from three locations and has online courses as well.

Vesalius College Situated in Brussels, it is an American-style college founded by the VUB and Boston University in 1987 to offer undergraduate education in English. The college offers three-year European Bachelor’s degree programs in business, communications, international affairs, and as of fall 2015, international and European law. Vesalius and its degree programs are registered and accredited with the Flemish government in Belgium.

United International Business Schoolshas campuses inAntwerpandBrussels, alongside several locations in Europe and Asia where students can transfer on a quarterly basis. It is an independent and accredited private institution offering flexible business, management, language and cultural studies at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The two Belgian locations are grouped under the title of the International University of Belgium.

ICHEC Business Schoolhas more than 60 years’ experience and more than 2,000 students each year. It awards Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in business management, science and engineering, with day and evening classes available. Bilingual courses encourage language skills.

Solvay Business Schooloffers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in economics, business engineering and management science, and is associated with the Université Libre de Bruxelles. The programs provide training in international management skills, and students may customize their program to specialize in European or international areas, networks, internships or study abroad.

European Institute for Public Administration(EIPA), with locations in Brussels, Luxembourg, Maastricht and Barcelona, provides courses in European affairs oriented towards the practice of lobbying and other training, plus Master’s programs in European public affairs and legal studies.