Belgium is located in the heart of Europe and only within a stone's throw away from other major European countries. With its open-minded population, multilingual culture and high number of exchange programmes, it offers a unique experience to prospective international students.
Belgium is a Federal State with three Regions and three Communities: the Flemish Community, the French Community and the German-speaking Community. One of the principal competencies of these Communities, which are delimited on linguistic grounds, relates to education. Within these Communities, Universities, University colleges and Arts colleges offer thousands of different programs, 500+ being taught in English.
Belgium offers a world class education system that strives for excellence and a strong connection between academia and business. Belgium is part of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and implements the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) with a three-cycle system (bachelor-master-doctorate).
Our universities are among the world's most innovative. With a population of more than 11 million people, it can boast more top 100 innovative universities per capita than most other countries in Europe. Belgium is ranked within the top 3 of most innovative countries in Europe on per capita basis.
In figures, Belgium is the:
1st in Europe for cooperation between science and SMEs,
4th highest-scoring nation globally in innovation, 6th worldwide for quality scientific research centres,
9th worldwide for collaboration between industries and universities.
Belgium has a high quality of life, affordable living costs and low tuition fees. The average cost of living in Belgium for students varies between a minimum of 800 and
900 EUR/month. This includes basic housing, books and courses, food and personal expenses, campus-related activities and transportation.
Many universities offer student housing. However, students will often look for a room in the city themselves (average rent for a furnished room in the city will be around 380 EUR/month, which can vary per city). Although tuition fees in Belgium differ per Community, the average lies around 900 EUR/year.
Thai students coming to Belgium can also benefit from scholarships. These can be provided by the different Communities, some institutions, the host university and the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme. More information can be found on the website of the different institutions