Welcome ! It is a great pleasure for us to have you at the Louvain School of Management, the Business faculty of the Université catholique Louvain for a one-year stay.
To do once you are selected
The step by step detailed procedure is explained in an email which is sent by the Double Degree Officer around end of March.
Deadlines to fill in the UCL mandatory online admission procedure and to upload all required documents:
- April 30 for non-EU citizen
- August 31 for EU citizen
- September 15 for any nationality living in Belgium
Obtain a student visa (for non EU citizen):
Non European citizens need a student visa to enter Belgium. The student visa is compulsory to register at UCL once you arrive. Please check the procedures with the closest Belgian Embassy or Consulate in your country.
If the UCL Central Administration Office does not have your complete registration file in the meantime, you will receive the UCL acceptance letter late and could have problems to obtain your visa, if needed. So, please be careful about that!
The UCL “Autorisation d’inscription” is the official proof that you are accepted at UCL. You will need it to obtain your visa and to be able to officially register at the university upon your arrival. So, do not forget it at home!
To find housing in Louvain-la-Neuve, there are several possibilities. The best way to participate in student life is to live on the campus itself. Indeed, Louvain-la-Neuve is an unusual pedestrian campus with more than 15 000 students and over 20 000 residents.
Living in a “kot” : “Kot” originally is a Dutch word meaning “junk room”. Nowadays it is used in all parts of Belgium for student flats. It consists of single bedrooms with common areas i.e. kitchen, living room, bathroom(s) /shower(s)and toilet(s). A “kot” can be pre-reserved in advance through the UCL “Service des Logements” (UCL Housing Service) or through real estate agencies or private owners. It gives you the possibility to live with Belgian students in a shared apartment. A UCL kot is usually less expensive than other housing solutions (cost: 275 to 350 €/month). Most of the rooms are on campus or in the neighbourhood. Living in a kot means living with other students which helps the integration on campus. The cleaning service comes once a week and cleans all the surfaces of common rooms.
“Kot à projet” (KAP) : In a KAP you will share a common interest with your housemates and work on a project during your exchange period. All KAP are supervised by the university. Those rooms must also be reserved through the Service des Logements (UCL housing service).
Small furnished flats (for one person): Mini studio flats are equipped with a bed and mattress, a set of shelves, a wardrobe, a desk and chair, a fridge, a hotplate, a sink, a shower and in some cases a private toilet (in other cases, the toilet is shared). Mini studio flats are let for a period of 12 months.
Rents vary between € 320 and € 390. Tenants have to deposit a warranty of € 150. Those flats must also be reserved through the Service des Logements (UCL housing service).
How to get a university's accommodation?
Please note that only students in possession of the autorisation d'inscription (see “First step” here above) can apply for University Housing.
UCL accommodation is limited and the reservations are made following the principle ‘first-come, first-served’.
No accommodation found before your arrival ?
When arriving in Belgium, you have the possibility to stay in the Kot Erasmus for few days (approx. 3 days) in order to take the time to look intensively for an accommodation. If you want to get a place in the Kot Erasmus, you must go on their website to subscribe online.
They propose temporary dorms to give you the time, when arriving in Belgium to find a definitive accommodation.
Contact the UCL Housing Service as soon as possible upon your arrival. Some UCL housing are released early in the semester. The reasons for this are students cancelling their arrival or finding another place to live or missing exams.
Help upon arrival : ESN LLN can help you when you arrive in Belgium if you ask for it and will accompany you until you find an accommodation. They will not make the search for you for a place to live but they will advise you on how to find a place. They are on Facebook and have a website; but you can also send them an email at esn.lln@gmail.com.
Private owners
You can find a list of them on the web site of the UCL Housing Service. If you wish to rent accommodation this way, you will have to contact the owner by phone or e-mail and come to an agreement with him/her directly.
Real Estate Agencies :
Other possibilities:
- Notre Maison
- ASBL 1 toit 2 âges
- Foyer Saint Paul
- Youth Hostels (Les Auberges de Jeunesse Belgium)
- Hotels in and around Louvain-la-Neuve (IBIS)
How to get to LLN / Getting around LLN
By plane :
You will land in Brussels Airport (Zaventem) or in Brussels South Charleroi Airport.
Note that the trip, both from Zaventem Airport or Charleroi Airport to Louvain-la-Neuve, will take more or less 1 hour.
By train :
SNCB/NMBS is the National Railway Company of Belgium.
Louvain-la-Neuve is easily accessible by train and its train station "Louvain-la-Neuve-Université" (not Leuven !!) is located in the very centre of the town. From Brussels, you can get to Louvain-la-Neuve in about 40 minutes.
- From any Belgian station, take the train towards Ottignies, a station situated on the Brussels-Ottignies-Namur-Luxembourg line (trains every half hour in both directions). Get off at Ottignies station and change trains to continue to Louvain-la-Neuve-Université (about 8 min.).
- Some trains go straight from Brussels to Louvain-la-Neuve but take more time because it stops at all stations.
>> Timetables
>> Tickets
>> Passes, cards,...
By bus:
TEC is the company responsible for the Wallonia network and offers therefore an extensive bus service throughout Wallonia and towards and from Brussels. TEC buses join Louvain-la-Neuve with Bruxelles, Ottignies, Wavre and some other surroundings.
The bus station in Louvain-la-Neuve is located in the town centre.
>> Timetables
By car :
Take the highway E411 Brussels-Namur. Exit 8A is the one for Louvain-la-Neuve (not to be confused with Louvain, the French translation of Leuven, located in Flanders).
Louvain-la-Neuve is a pedestrian town, therefore cars are not allowed inside the town. > LLN Car Parks
Upon your arrival - 3 mandatory steps
If your accommodation is not available at your arrival or if you have not booked one in advance, you can find a temporary accommodation (have a look here above at "No accommodation found before your arrival ?").
You have booked in advance a room/flat through the University Housing Service:
- Signing the lease contract
Upon arrival Louvain-la-Neuve, you have to go to Contract Management of “UCL Logements” in order to sign the lease contract as well as to pay the first monthly rent, to deposit a security warranty and to pay a small amount for administrative costs. - Getting the keys + inventory
You can get the keys of your room/flat at the local office of the Accommodation Office in the neighbourhood where your accommodation is located. To do so, you will have to present yourself personally and bring along your lease contract as well as your ID card or passport.
You have booked in advance a room/flat through a rental agency or a private owner:
Please directly contact them in order to sign an official lease contract.
You must now officially register at the UCL Central Administration (“Les Halles”) located Place de l’Université 1, ground floor (Service called “SIC”) in LLN.
You will need to provide with:
- ALL the originals version of your application file (transcript of records, degrees, English certificate, ID-card, passport, work contract, internship,... In other words, you have to provide original proofs of activities you have undertaken since leaving secondary school, including the dates of each activity)
- A copy of your signed housing lease contract
- the original version of your UCL “Autorisation d’inscription”
- the proof of membership of a health insurance scheme (photocopy of European health card or a private insurance certificate)
- your ID card or passport (+ long stay student visa for non-EU students)
- all the official and originals missing documents mentionned on the official document "autorisation d'inscription" you've received
- Your enrolment form filled-in and printed after having confirm the fact you’ve received the UCL official letter (available on the online admission platform)
- 2 passport-size colour photos (facial recognition ; white background ; identical)
IF you are a grant holder, you must also provide your study grant confirmation + a proof of payment possibly done before registration
IF you are a non EU student, you must provide a finance plan.
The deadline to officially register at UCL is September 30th.
Note that if you stay in another town, you will have to go to the city hall of that town.
To register at the commune located Voie des Hennuyers, 1 at Louvain-la-Neuve, you need the following documents: (Make sure you have those when you get there) :
- your signed housing contract
- the original version of your UCL “Autorisation d’inscription”
- your UCL registration document
- the study certificate issued by UCL
- your passport or ID card (+ visa for Non-European citizens only)
- 3 passport-size colour photos (facial recognition ; white background ; identical)
- the proof of membership of a health insurance scheme
- the grant confirmation or undertaking to assume financial responsibility (proof of a fellowship or financial statement - “annexe 32” asked by the Belgian Embassy) – (for Non-European citizens only)
- marriage certificate (for married students coming with their spouse)
During your stay
The academic year at LSM is composed of two terms and each term is splitted in two parts (Part 1 & Part 2) :
- Fall term 2017 "Q1" going from September 18th to December 23rd (with exam session from 5th to 26th of January 2018)
- Part 1 : the 8 first weeks of the term (incl. the mandatory integration week starting on September 18th and the assessment week at the end of the Part 1)
- Part 2 : the 6 last weeks of the term
- Spring term 2018 "Q2" going from February 5th to May 19th (with exam session from 4th to 29th of June)
- Part 1 : the 7 first weeks of the term (incl. an assessment week)
- Part 2 : the 8 last weeks of the term (incl. 2 weeks of Spring Break from 2nd to 13th of April)
A third term for eventual resit exams going from August 16th to September 4th.
Course workload for double degree students - in order to get the LSM degree
Please note that the following explanations do not take the requirements of your home university into account. We strongly invite you to check their minimum requirements in order to get their degree.
At LSM, you will get the Master 120 credits in Management or the Master 120 credits in Business Engineering depending on your academic background and the agreement with the partner institution.
In order to get your LSM master degree, you must earn at least 120 credits including :
- the Master’s Thesis (20),
- a major (30),
- Professional/Research focus courses (10)
- Home university’s courses (at least 60) (We will recognize some or all courses done at your home university).
The joint DD Master's Thesis : To obtain the 2 master's degrees, you are required to write one joint master's thesis. Therefore you will have two supervisors: one at LSM and one at the partner university. The master's thesis will be written in English (or in Dutch for those who are doing the master degree in Dutch at KUL). You will have to respect the requirements of both universities, e.g. an oral defense in front of the two supervisors (usually by skype). Please have a look for the LSM's Professors, classified by their area of expertise, who could be your supervisor.
Languages of instruction : English (mostly) and French. For non-French speaking students, the entire programme will be in English.
LSM Pedagogical system: The teaching system at LSM includes a large amount of group works. The group works generally have an impact on your final grade but normally you have a final exam in addition. While planning your courses consider that group works take quite a lot of time. Sometimes it is mentioned in the course description if there will be a group work. Please note that the groups are formed the first week of each semester!
Lecture notes : You can find your lecture notes either on the UCL intranet (through Moodle) and/or in the DUC (Grand’rue)
The DUC is a place where you can find handouts for most of the courses. Normally you are told during the 1st lecture, whether or not there is a “Syllabus” (a syllabus is a hand out) or other materials for the class and where to find them.
Moodle : Moodle is an online platform used by professors to organise courses, to communicate information, to share documents,… and used by students to form groups, to upload a work, to take an appointment,...
Libraries : Different libraries are at your disposal. The library of Economic and Social Sciences, including LSM, is the BSPO, located "Place Montesquieu" in front of LSM building. The library of psychology is located “Place du Cardinal Mercier”.
To enter any library, you will need your access card received upon arrival, after the UCL registration is completed. This card also allows you to rent books for free and gives you access for free to the UCL libraries.
Books and magazines must sometimes be read in the library but you can make copies. To do so you will need a copy card which you must buy at the reception desk in the library.
Improving Language (i.e. French,...): French course, at ILV (Institut des Langues Vivantes, the UCL language school), can be followed free of charge during the semesters at LSM IF it's included in your study programme (which means you must successfully pass it and it will take into account in your average).
Another way to improve a language is Tandem language learning
Exam sessions: There are three exam sessions: January - June - August/September.
Each student has the possibility to present twice an exam within the same academic year. However, be aware that the exam for a 1st term course can be only presented during the January session and/or September session and not during the June session. Therefore, an exam of a 2nd term course can be presented only at the June session and/or September session.
UCL grading system: The final assessment of a course will result in a mark on a scale from 0 to 20, the minimum pass mark being 10/20. The overall assessment of a year or a course of study is expressed in the same way, but in this case the minimum pass mark is 10/20.
UCL uses a single ECTS grading table which is based upon the grades obtained in all programmes during the last five academic years. It is reviewed each year.
Exams : Evaluations are based on - depending on the course - class participation, oral presentations (individual and by group), written exams (essays/projects/group reports). Some courses have oral exams.
Evaluation is explained in the course description and/or during the first lecture.
Student Card
This card will enable you to register at the sports centre, and to get discounts at the cinema, shops, travel expenses if you are under 26 years old (train, etc.).
Access Card - Smartcard (Carte d’accès)
This card enables you to enter the LSM building, UCL computer rooms (after 8:00 pm) and libraries.
UCL virtual office (My UCL)
Every student registered at UCL gets a "virtual desk" (like an intranet) on the UCL website, referred to as their general UCL user account. This "desk" gives you free access to a range of services and to the data banks to which UCL subscribes, including remote access.
The purpose of the "virtual desk" is to offer you a range of personalised services.
It will enable you to enrol in courses, register for exams, access your mailbox @student.uclouvain.be, access Moodle (the electronic platform for courses and communication with teaching staff), access electronic libraries, etc.
UCL student email address
Please consult it on a regular basis as all information will be sent to you that way; for example information about courses, registration to exams….
Louvain-la-Neuve is a pedestrian town, the town centre is forbidden to motorised vehicles.
In Louvain-la-Neuve, everything is at your fingertips. You walk on foot far from the stress of circulation and from traffic congestion. You are never more than 10 minutes away from your classroom, the shopping center or the sports center.
The Faculties, Institutes, Technology Platforms and Administrative Services are mainly situated in the city center and in the neighborhoods (named Biéreau or Hocaille).
Sport Center
The LLN "centre sportif" offers 60 sport activities. It is located in the “Hocaille” quarter, as well as the swimming pool. Is is at about 10 minutes walking from the Louvain-la-Neuve town centre.
The first weeks of the semester entrance is normally free to try any sport types so everyone can go there and test the offers.
If that time is over you need to go to the "centre sportif" office to buy the sports card, 50€ for the hole year. This card is a replacement of your normal student card, so don’t worry if they take your “old” one.
With that card you have access to all sports and to the swimming pool at the displayed times on the sport programme. Some sports require extra insurance charges (such as the football mondialito : 5 €).
Culture at LLN
Students Associations
- ESN Louvain-la-Neuve (International Exchange Erasmus Student Network)
- AIESEC Louvain-la-Neuve
- CEMS Club Belgium
- LSM Conseil
- Club LSM
Belgium