Flanders

The number of foreign students studying in Flanders is increasing dramatically, as has emerged from figures released by the ministerial office for Education. The office has a provisional number for this academic year of 10,747 students from other countries who are registered at Flemish universities and colleges of higher education, an increase of a thousand students within a year. Since the 1999-2000 academic year, when there were not even 4,000 foreign students at Flemish high education institutions, there has been a steady increase in international students. The actual number of foreign students is much higher, as figures from the Erasmus exchange programme are not yet available. In the last academic year, Belgium received 6,846 students under this programme.

Ludo Melis, deputy chancellor for education policy at the University of Louvain (Leuven), says that one of the reasons for the increase is the quality of the education on offer in Flanders. The Leuven university currently has 140 nationalities registered. He says that internationalisation requires a different approach on the part of the universities. Lectures must be given in different languages, which has resulted in an increasing number of master's courses in English. Housing and social provisions also have to be expanded, and student cafeterias must, for example, remain open during the holidays, as many international students opt not to go home due to the great distance involved.

Reception facilities at the University of Ghent are also being expanded, says Valère Meus, service head for international relations. New accommodation is being built for the international students and communication is partly conducted in English. Meus believes that the university exchange programmes are primarily beneficial, as it attracts students from good universities, guaranteeing their quality level. The Ghent institution hopes that its participation in the Santander Group together with foreign universities means it will attract good students from abroad. Deputy Rector Melis of the Leuven University expects the number of foreign students to increase in the next few years. “We have noticed that students are increasingly completing a bachelor’s degree in one country and then taking a master’s in another”.

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