Which courses are available to incoming exchange students?
EPL COURSES
Incoming exchange students registered at Ecole Polytechnique de Louvain have access to all courses organized by EPL (abbreviations as indicated below, eg. LELEC = L stands for Louvain, ELEC stands for electrical engineering) in the 2nd cycle (Master programmes) or courses in Majors of the 1st cycle (Bachelor programmes as from 2nd Semester of 2nd year and 3rd year only).
Some restrictions may apply for a few 'project type' courses for logistics reasons and the final decision then rests with each Chairman of Programme Commission. As an absolute rule however, the LCPME courses and LFSA2351 courses cannot be included in an exchange programme.
As an exchange student, you are required to take as a minimum a credit load of at least 20 ECTS per Semester, whilst the standard total work load is 30 ECTS per Semester for degree-seeking students.
COURSES TAKEN AT OTHER UCL FACULTIES
(in Louvain-la-Neuve)
Exchange students also have access to courses organized by the Faculté des Sciences" at UCL (for courses in mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.) and to the "Faculté d'ingénierie biologique, agronomique et Environnementale". Courses of the "Faculté d'architecture, d'ingénierie architecturale et urbanisme" are also accessible.
It is also possible to take some non technical courses in other faculties of UCL (eg. business, finance, Law, etc.) However, the amounf of these courses is strictly limited to a maximum of 2 courses per semester.
COURSES ON OTHER UCL CAMPUSES
We bring to the attention of students registering for courses in Biomedical Engineering (LGBIO) that some courses in this academic field are organized on the UCL campus of Brussels-Woluwe, which requires commuting from Louvain-la-Neuve to Brussels.
It is also important to note that only Bachelor and Master courses in "Civil engineering architecture" are organized on the campus of Louvain-la-Neuve. Bachelor and Master courses in "Architecture" are organized on other campuses in Brussels (St Gilles) and Tournai and are uneasy to access from Louvain-la-Neuve.
INDUSTRIAL INTERNSHIPS
In the frame of an exchange programme at EPL for a full academic year, students have the possibility to indicate on their learning agreement that they wish to have an internship in a company during Spring Semester, either between February and April, if compatible with the rest of their academic programme, or during Summer break (July-August).
Please note that EPL cannot guarantee the availability and feasibility of such internship. You are therefore invited to contact Ms. Myriam Banaï, internship coordinator EPL upon your arrival at Louvain-la-neuve to discuss it and, if successful, make the final arrangements. In the meantime, we warmly recommend you to read the related web section on internships at EPL.
LANGUAGE COURSES
Incoming exchange students are allowed to take one "French as foreign language" course per semester, free of charge when the course is included in their ECTS learning agreement.
The course level will be defined by the UCL language school, ILV at the start of the student's exchange programme. Other languages are proposed at ILV for incoming exchange students and they are also free of chage on the same principle as French, see ILV related information. Other language courses proposed at ILV may be accessible but with a tuition fee and cannot be included in the student's learning agreement.
How to find a programme or a course?
There are two different ways to find a course at EPL, with a different approach whether you want to register for a full programme, if you come as a regular student or whether you come as an exchange student and only need to choose some specific courses to follow during your stay at EPL.
For a full programme, you can consult the EPL programme catalogue. By choosing a programme, you will be able to navigate through the different courses of this programme.
1q = Fall Semester courses, 2q = Spring Semester courses
To facilitate your search, please check main department codes (or study fields) as indicated below:
- Civil engineering, environment, geotechnics, hydraulics : LGCIV
- Electrical Engineering, cryptography, information security, electronics & control, telecommunications, information & signal processing, microwaves, electronic circuits & systems, MEMS & NEMS,
nanotechnologies : LELEC
- Computer Engineering, communication network, artificial intelligence, software engineering & programming systems, networking & security : LINGI or LSINF
- Mathematical Engineering, optimization & operations research, systems & controls, discrete mathematics & computer science, bioengineering : LINMA
- Physical, Chemical, Materials Engineering, nanotechnologies, inorganic materials & processes, polymers & nanomolecules, biomaterials & bioprocesses : LMAPR
- Mechanical Engineering, aeronautics, mechanical manifacturing & production, energy, polymer & metal forming, numerical modelling in mechanical engineering, biomechanics : LMECA
- Biomedical engineering : LGBIO
- General undergraduate courses : LFSA
Where to find books and course materials?
At EPL you willl find a student association who prints all of the syllabi that you need, so that you can buy them at a very cheap price. This organization is called the SICI. They also sell books cheaper than in stores. The store of the SICI is located in the Pierre Curie building (offices a.030.30 and a.030.40). It is therefore highly recommended to come and purchase books and syllabi at the SICI.
What about exams?
To take an exam, you have to be registered usually a month and a half before the start of the Exam session, you are informed about the registration process in due time. There are 3 exam sessions over one academic year : January, June and August/September.
You can be registered for an exam at 2 of the 3 sessions as a maximum during the same academic year and following certain rules. If you fail a course during the January exam session, you can only register again to the August/September session, not to the June session. If you fail in June, you will also be able to take again the exam during the August/September session. As a general rule, January Exam session is related to Fall Semester courses only, June session is related to Spring Semester courses only, and August/September session is the "Retake session".