ELAN: KU Leuven
The KU Leuven is a destination within the European Liberal Arts Network (ELAN) for University College Utrecht students, located in Leuven, Belgium. The university of Leuven, founded in 1425, is Belgium’s largest and highest-ranked university as well as one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe. KU Leuven offers 5 BA programmes and 70 MA programmes in English, and a considerable number of elective courses in the Dutch-language BA programmes are also in English. Your exchange will take place at the Faculty of Arts
| Semesters available | We recommend going in Spring semester, since that semester lines up better with UCU’s academic calendar. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Number of places available | 2 students per semester | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Academic calendar | Fall: End of September – Beginning of February | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language of instruction | English and/or Dutch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Application deadlines | For Fall semester: 30 April | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course offerings | An impression of the courses offered to exchange students can be found here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Credit system | KU Leuven uses ECTS, just like UCU. Most courses are 6 ECTS, which means that you will need to take 5 courses to obtain 30 ECTS. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Housing | The Housing Service assists international students in finding suitable housing. More information can be found here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Costs | The cost of living in Leuven is similar to that in Utrecht. Costs and some more practical information can be found here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Orientation | The Orientation Days take place at the beginning of each semester, a week before the start of the academic semester in September and February. Participation is free, except for certain weekend activities and food. We strongly advise you to participate in order to get a good start of your academic adventure in Leuven. Find out more here | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Student life | Leuven is an active student city with many student associations. The KU Leuven has sports facilities which are available to students who buy a subscription, and facilitates artistic and cultural extracurricular activities. Find out more here. The KU Leuven has buildings in the city center, as well as a larger campus on the edge of town and several subsidiaries in other Belgian cities. For questions you can chat with student ambassadors online. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Situation | Leuven is a medieval city of some 100,000 inhabitants in the Flemish part of Belgium. Of those 100,000, some 50,000 are students. For tourist information click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Student experiences | KU Leuven is a new destination, and therefore we have not received feedback from our students yet. Be the first UCU student to explore this university! |
More information
For information about the requirements for studying abroad, the application procedure and more, go to UCU's Study abroad page.
You can browse through all UCU exchange destinations and UU exchange destinations in the exchange catalog.