Outgoing Students
Since their creation, the Louvain School of Engineering (EPL) has participated in various exchange programmes in Europe and worldwide.
Students may first become interested in such exchanges at the end of their Bachelor’s degree programme mainly through intensive courses offered as part of the ATHENS or BEST networks. These networks are also open to students in the Master’s degree programme and provide an initial experience in international education.
In addition, in the context of the Erasmus and Mercator exchange programmes, students have the possibility of studying at a partner university typically for one year (two semesters) in the first year of the Master’s degree programme or five months (first semester) in the second year of the Master’s degree programme. As a result, the EPL is a member of different networks.
-In Belgium, the EPL maintains a privileged partnership with the Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with which it has developed an exchange programme covering the first year of the Master’s degree.
-At the European level, the EPL is especially involved in the CLUSTER network. This network guarantees quality both in terms of education and in terms of hosting exchange students. Moreover, the CLUSTER partners have signed an agreement to recognize the Bachelor degree programmes of their members. This agreement implies that all Bachelor degree holders from CLUSTER member institutions are subject to the same admission criteria to CLUSTER Master’s degree programmes as local students.
-Outside of Europe, the EPL is a member of the Magalhaes network that joins together around fifteen European universities with the best science and technology universities in Latin America.
In addition to these network partnerships, the Louvain School of Engineering has signed a number of individual agreements with various universities in Europe, North America and elsewhere in the world. The list of these agreements can be found on UCL’s International Relations Administration website.
Moreover, several dual degree programmes have also been set up.
Dual Master’s degree agreements allow students to obtain engineering degrees from two universities after they have completed one year at UCL and the other at a host university. In computer science engineering, such agreements have been established with UPC (Barcelona, Spain) and Grenoble (France). Others are currently being negotiated.
Students are informed about the various exchange programmes at the start of the second year of their Bachelor’s degree programme. It is recommended that they prepare for these exchanges well in advance, most notably at the linguistic level through courses at the university’s Language Institute (ILV).
Beyond exchange programmes, students may participate in an internship in a research laboratory or in a company abroad.
More information about exchange programmes at EPL.
Incoming students
As part of the CLUSTER network, foreign students may benefit from exactly the same status and conditions as UCL students, which favours Erasmus exchanges for students coming from network member institutions.
The entire programme is offered in English and can be taken without prior knowledge of French, except for the majors in biomedical engineering, business management and small and medium sized business creation. All courses, except for a few rare exceptions, are given in English. For non-francophone students, alternatives to the courses in French will be proposed by the programme commission on a case-by-case basis according to the student’s curriculum.
For more information about exchange programmes at EPL