First steps

Do you want to go to Europe? Outside Europe? For a study stay ?  ULB allows you to apply for several types of stay.

1. Check if you can go next year

Before embarking on your research, the first thing to do is to register at ULB and check that your course of study authorises departures for the year of study in which you will register. For example, if you are starting your first year of a Master's degree next year, check that your course of study authorises departures in the first year of the Master's degree. You should also check whether a full year's departure is allowed next year, or whether your course has limited stays to one semester.

For more information, consult your faculty website or contact the academic coordinator responsible for your course.

If you find that you have missed the mobility window for a study visit, you may want to consider an internship abroad in the Erasmus+ area.

2. Attend the information session of your faculty

The vast majority of the programmes also organise a specific information session on exchanges, presenting the destinations, the deadlines, the selection criteria and other administrative procedures. The dates of these sessions are communicated at the beginning of the first semester, so be sure to note the date of your programme's session in your diary.
This is an opportunity to meet your academic coordinator and ask all your questions before making your choice of destination, so don't miss this appointment!

3. Choose your destination

Outside Europe
Consult our map of destinations and filter the search on your faculty or department as well as on the type of exchange programme "Bilateral agreement". Once the search is complete, the list of possible destinations appears below the map, and you can consult the information sheet of each partner university to find out the number of places available, the subjects authorised to apply, the level(s) authorised for this destination (bachelor or master), the recommended language level and other practical information.

For each destination you are interested in, you should visit the website of the host university to check that your field of study is taught there. The "all disciplines" agreements outside Europe do not mean that all ULB disciplines are allowed to participate, but that all disciplines of the partner university are accessible (unless restrictions are mentioned on the university's website). When certain faculties or disciplines are closed to exchanges, this is mentioned on the university's information sheet, so there is no point in trying to apply for them.

Some destinations are only accessible to one stream (e.g. Architecture only). In this case, it is a "faculty" agreement, similar to the Erasmus agreements, which guarantees that you will be able to find what you want.

Some faculties do not allow their students to apply for these destinations. Attend the information session for your course to find out more about this.

Europe
For Erasmus+, Erasmus Belgica or Swiss study trips, the first step is to choose your destination. Consult our map of destinations and filter the search by faculty or department. Once the search is complete, the list of possible destinations appears below the map, and you can consult the information sheet of each partner university to find out the number of places available, the level(s) authorised for this destination (bachelor or master), the recommended language level and other practical information.

Please note that it is only possible to go to the destinations proposed by your course of study, and in accordance with the agreements established between ULB and the partner university.

Within the framework of the CIVIS Alliance, by default, all students have access to the 8 CIVIS partner universities, all disciplines included. However, be sure to check that the university of your choice offers courses in your field of study, as some courses do not always have their equivalent in all universities.

4. Check that the courses offered are suitable for you

Choosing your destination solely on the basis of the host city or country is a bad idea. It is essential to consult the course catalogue offered by your host university, to avoid finding yourself without any possibility of taking courses that interest you. Draw up a provisional course programme (called a Learning Agreement), which you will often have to submit to your faculty as soon as you apply. 

Also check the language of instruction of the courses. The level of language may vary from year to year, so do not hesitate to contact the host university for more information. You will need to be able to understand the courses you are taking from the very first weeks. For example, not all courses are offered in English at some universities, but sometimes in the local language. Make sure that you are able to follow the courses and take the exams at the end of your stay.

According to the exchange principle, the courses you take abroad replace the courses you would have taken at ULB. Very often, your academic coordinator will ask you to find equivalent courses related to your degree, and will set rules to follow when choosing your courses abroad.

5. Apply for a course of study

You should submit your application to your faculty, to your academic coordinator. The deadline may vary according to each course of study, but also according to your choice of destination. Indeed, if your first choice is an institutional destination of the ULB ("all disciplines"), you will have to apply earlier because there is an additional selection stage. Ask your faculty for information about the deadlines.

Each faculty requires an application file which may vary slightly from one faculty to another. This application is presented at the information sessions (see step 2). It usually consists of submitting an online application form with a letter of motivation, a provisional course programme, sometimes a CV or proof of language knowledge. Ask the academic coordinator for the link to apply, as there is a different form for each faculty.

You can make more than one choice of destination, as places are limited per destination, and the coordinator may have to choose who gets his or her first choice, based on your records. It is recommended that you do the same research (destination, course selection) for all your choices.

Make sure you meet the deadline and that you have done all the necessary checks before applying. It is always very difficult to change your destination and departure period after you have applied and once the different places have been allocated to all students. A successful stay starts with good preparation!

6. Post-selection procedures, acceptation and cases of rejection

Once the application deadline has passed, your course will inform you of the result of the selections, and you will have to follow several administrative procedures for your host university, as well as for the Student Mobility Service, which is responsible for funding.

Specific information for non-Europeans:

Some students will need to respond very quickly when the partner institution requests a file very early in the year, while others will be contacted as deadlines approach. A delay can result in the cancellation of the stay, so please check your emails regularly from the moment you apply.

In most cases, nominated students are accepted as long as the procedures are followed correctly and on time. However, in less than 5% of cases, some host universities outside Europe may refuse applications for reasons beyond your control or that of ULB. These reasons can include an imbalance in exchange flows, new laws in effect, housing market difficulties, or diplomatic complications. Therefore, stays outside Europe can be exceptionally canceled or shortened, with such decisions potentially being made in April, May, June, or even July.

In the event that the host university rejects your application, ULB is not obligated and cannot guarantee that it will be possible to find an alternative solution. This depends on whether the circumstances are indeed beyond your control, but it also depends on the date when the rejection is made, as each university has its own deadlines.
If the host university imposes a shortened stay, note that it is not possible to abandon your destination for another. Since spots outside Europe are rare and highly sought after, we emphasize that students who commit to these spots must honor their commitment out of respect for other students who might have been redirected elsewhere or rejected during internal selection. ULB is not required to replace the lost semester with another stay.

We invite you to consider these risks, however small they may be, before choosing a destination outside Europe. If this uncertainty is a major obstacle for you, we encourage you to prefer a destination within Europe, where greater flexibility can be observed.

7. Once on site, changes to the course programme

Erasmus+ students will have access to the Learning Agreement online via their faculty application portal. 

For non-Europeans: 
The Learning Agreement that you have completed during your application may need to be modified. Indeed, courses may have been deleted, moved, there may be time conflicts, or the course is not what you expected. No problem! You have 5 weeks after your arrival to submit your changes to your academic coordinator.

Use the document you can download here to submit your changes and send them to the faculty. It is imperative that you get their agreement, otherwise the changes may not be recognised when you sit the relevant exams.

8. After your return, conversion of scores

When taking the exams abroad, you get grades in the local grading system. These grades are not simply translated into ULB grades via a simple rule of three, but converted by the ECTS grade (A, B, C, D, E or F) that accompanies the grade. This is the fairest system available, as it guarantees you a ULB grade that takes into account the difficulty of the exam and the severity of the local grading system.

Read the opinions of students who went to Erasmus+ universities.