Internationalisation

The School of Engineering takes part since their inception to the various existing mobility programs at the European as well as worldwide levels.

The numerous contacts it maintains with the business community, particularly through its Advisory Board, have shown how much employers valued the presence of a mobility experience in a résumé. The growing internationalisation of the research trough networks that links laboratories located around the world also calls for progress in that direction.

The interest of the students is aroused by the end of bachelor programs, notably through intensive study programs such as the ATHENS (http://www.athensprogramme.com) or BEST (http://www.best.eu.org/) networks.

During either of his two years of master, the student has the opportunity to participate in an exchange program for one or two terms.

In Belgium, EPL maintains a privileged partnership with Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with which it has developed an exchange program covering the first year of master (http://eng.kuleuven.be/).

At the European level, EPL was particularly implied in the CLUSTER network (http://www.cluster.org/). CLUSTER provides a guarantee of quality, both in terms of education and in terms of hosting for exchange students. Moreover, the CLUSTER partners have signed a convention of mutual recognition of their bachelor programs. This convention holds that all the bachelors of the CLUSTER institutions benefit, in each institution of the network, of equal access to the masters as the local students.

Outside of Europe, EPL is a partner of the Magalhaẽs network which associates fifteen European universities with the best universities in science and technology of Latin America (http://www.magalhaes-network.net/).

Alongside these network partnerships, the School of Engineering has also signed a number of individual agreements with various universities in Europe, in North America and elsewhere in the world. The list of these agreements can be found on UCL's International Relations Administration website (http://www.uclouvain.be/international.html).

EPL also takes part in the TIME program (http://www.time-association.org) which allows students to obtain, at the end of an adapted curriculum, two engineering degrees.

Moreover, some dual master agreements have been set up and allow, after two years of master (one at UCL, the other in a host university), to obtain engineering degrees from both universities.

 International opening (for UCL students)

Besides the intensive study programs which offer a first approach to international studies, EPL students with a strong academic profile are invited to apply to participate in an exchange program for 5 or 10 months.

The exchanges normally take place during second year. They typically only last half a year, either as a semester of courses or as a semester in a research laboratory in conjunction with the graduation project.

A few more specific solutions also exist for exchanges with Latin America universities living on a Southern-hemisphere academic calendar.

The student are informed about the various exchange programs at the start of their second bachelor year. They are invited to prepare in time, especially at the linguistic level, through the courses of UCL's Institute of Languages (ILV). The master program comprises up to 50% (not counting the graduation project) of courses fully in English, which also provide a very good opportunity to prepare for a trip abroad.
Beyond exchange programs, an internship may be conducted in a research laboratory or in an enterprise abroad.

 International attractiveness (for non-residents):

The whole program is provided in English and can be followed without prior knowledge of French, except for the options in biomedical engineering, management and CPME. All courses, but a few exceptions, are given in English. For non-French-speaking students, alternatives to the courses in French will be proposed by the program commission on a case-by-case basis, according to the student's curriculum.