Master's students
K.U.Leuven organises two levels of master's programmes: the Initial Master's and the Advanced Master's programmes.
Along the with the bachelor's programme, the initial master's programme programmes constitute the basic level of university education in Flanders after completing secondary education. In the spirit of the Bologna Declaration, all the faculties at K.U.Leuven have provided a new orientation to their programmes, revising and restructuring them into bachelor's programmes of three years and initial master's programmes of one or two years (or four years for Medicine). As one of the main features of the Bologna Declaration, the programmes include more international mobility for students and international co-operation with regard to curricula. In effect, K.U.Leuven aims at making these programmes even more attractive and competitive for international students, especially in terms of quality and academic standards. These programmes are mostly taught in Dutch, some in English.
Advanced master's programmes provide training at a specialised level. They are aimed at students who already possess a basic academic (initial master’s) degree, or a foreign master’s diploma. Generally, they aim at providing a wider scope by offering subjects from other academic disciplines and by analysing academic subjects in depth. These programmes usually take one year of study, but some may take two years. The international academic programmes at K.U.Leuven that are taught in English fall under this category. In the framework of the Bologna Declaration, these international programmes will lead to (advanced) Master's degrees. Moreover, K.U.Leuven faculties stress even more the international character of these programmes by arranging, among others, that they can be taught in another foreign language (e.g. Spanish). Likewise, the programmes will be strongly linked to the top research areas of K.U.Leuven.
Specific admission requirements for particular programmes are listed by faculty in the programme overview.
Academic information
International guests who stay at K.U.Leuven are grouped into different categories on the basis of the differences in residence status. More information about statuses.
