Come to VUB on an exchange

No, all exchange students who study at VUB as part of an exchange agreement or an exchange scholarship programme managed by the International Relations office are exempt from paying tuition fees. More information on the offered scholarship programmes and relevant eligibility criteria can be found here.

No, if there is no exchange agreement with your home university or specific cooperation agreement with your government and the VUB, you cannot apply for an exchange. 

Yes, you can find more information here . Certain course descriptions, however, still mention SP or Study Points, 1 SP = 1 ECTS. 1 ECTS credit corresponds to no less than 25 and no more than 30 hours of teaching, learning and assessment activities. In most cases student workload ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 hours for an academic year.

All incoming exchange students are required to take a minimum of 21 ECTS per semester.

The VUB will provide your home university with a Transcript of Records of your obtained grades and credits, and an explanation of the grading system at the VUB. Your home university must then transfer and recognise your obtained grades and credits.

Yes, incoming exchange students can select courses from our Dutch-taught programmes, provided you give us proof of Dutch language knowledge in your online application. A minimum B2 level is recommended.

All incoming exchange students have to provide proof of English language knowledge in their online application. This can be an official English test, proof of English-taught courses taken at the home university, or a statement from the home university confirming that you have sufficient knowledge of English to take English-taught courses at VUB. A minimum B2 level is recommended. The same level applies for those needing the Dutch and/or French language (during a traineeship at the university hospital, for example).

No, you can only select courses from the course overview for your study field. Some departments allow you to also select courses from other study fields, but these courses are then also mentioned in your department’s course overview.

No, you either follow courses at the VUB or do training. You cannot combine both unless you can select the official VUB course ‘Internship’ from the course overview for your field of study.

We offer a limited number of rooms to exchange students on campus at U-residence (Brussels Engineering, Sciences & Humanities Campus). More info on U-residence and other housing solutions in the private market can be found on  this page.

Exchange students can take courses at the Academic Language Centre, ACTO. Depending on your VUB department, these courses may or may not be recognised for credits.

More info can be found here.

You can contact the Student Administration Centre at exchange.incoming@vub.be

You can contact the International Relations office at international.relations@vub.be