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Belgium

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Partners situated in Belgium:

Note: One of the universities in Belgium is K.U.Leuven.

Country in a nutshell

Belgium is a federal state in Europe with a constitutional monarchy, founded in 1830. Its capital is Brussels and it has a population of 10 511 382 people in a total area of 30 528 km². Belgium is a double federation of:

Source: Original png on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Belgium_provinces_regions_striped.png
  • 3 Communities which are responsible for the person-related issues such as education, welfare, public health and culture:



Country education policy

The Belgian Constitution stipulates that everyone has the right to education and therefore established compulsory education. Belgium also provides that access to education is free of charge up to the end of secondary education.


As a result of the constitutional reform in Belgium the Dutch speaking and the French-speaking higher education systems were separated.


Two groups organise the educational structure: the public sector (the communes, provinces and communities) and the private sector. In the public sector there are 3 educational networks:

  • community schools (neutral on religious, philosophical or ideological convictions)
  • subsidised publicly run schools (organized by communes and provinces)
  • subsidised privately run schools: denominational schools and schools which are not affiliated to a particular religion: the Freinet schools, Montessori schools or Steiner schools, which adopt particular educational methods and are also known as ‘method schools’.


Education that is organised for and by the government (community education and municipal and provincial education) is known as publicly run education. Recognised education organised on private initiative is called privately run education.


Because the educational system differs in Flanders and Wallone, we decided to create two different pages, one for Flanders and one for Wallone.

Country education system

A detailed chart of the educational levels in Flanders A simplified chart of the educational levels in Flanders
Belgium education-levels Nutshell.gif Belgium education-levels Katho.gif
Adapted from a PDF "The Flemish educational landscape in a nutshell" Adapted from a PDF "Chart Flemish Education"

Higher education

Higher education in Belgium is organized by the two main communities, the Flemish Community and the French Community. German speakers typically enroll in institutions in the French Community or in Germany.

HEI's of the Flemish Community

In tertiary education / higher education, the academic year starts between 1 September and 1 October. The academic year ends on the day before the start of the next academic year.

The student enrols in one or more autonomous course components. He/she chooses for the already existing educational programme of 60 credits per academic year or for a flexible combination of course components (= less than 60 credits per academic year).

An association is inter-institutional co-operation between one university and one or more colleges of higher education. Associations facilitate improved interaction between education and research in the academic bachelor courses and the master courses provided at colleges of higher education.


Continuing education in Flanders

1. Part-time education in the arts (DKO)

Part-time education in the arts is aimed at the artistic education of children and adults and, in doing so, at providing a contribution to their personal development.


2. Adult education

In Flanders there are several publicly funded education, training and developmental provision schemes for adults. Within part-time adult education, 3 different actors can be distinguished:
a continuing education (OSP): with more than 250,000 course participants, continuing education is the most important pillar in adult education. Continuing education is provided in centres for adult education which are recognised and funded by the authorities.
b supervised individual study (BIS): BIS has discontinued. It is however published in our research list.
c adult basic education: the 29 centres for basic adult education try to provide a broad and varied range of basic education programmes: languages, mathematics, social orientation, ICT, introduction in French and English and stimulation and student counselling activities.
In contrast with continuing education and BIS, courses in basic education are free of charge.


3. Lifelong learning

On 31 March 2003, the Training and Alignment Information Service /Dienst Informatie Vorming en Afstemming (DIVA) was launched. DIVA co-ordinates the educational provision for adults in Flanders. DIVA facilitates the co-operation between the policy fields Education and Training, Employment, Culture and Economy. DIVA’s partners are the educational networks, Flemish Employment and Vocational Training Agency (VDAB), Flemish Institute for the Self-Employed (VIZO) and Support Centre for Socio-cultural Work (Socius). These partners represent respectively adult education (including further higher education, OSP, basic education, BIS and DKO), the training courses set up by VDAB, by Syntra and socio-cultural adult work. An awareness-raising campaign was launched: http://www.wordwatjewil.be (“Become what you want”)


Higher Education in Flanders and Wallonia


Structure based on: Wikipedia's page on list of universities in Belgium.


In Flanders distinctions are made between:

  • Universities: abbreviated as FL Uni
  • (University) Colleges (“Hogescholen”): abbreviated as FL Col
  • Registered institutes of higher education: abbreviated as RHEI


The Colleges, which issue professional bachelor and master degrees, are recognised by the Flemish government. Finally, the Flemish government has recognised a number of "registered" institutes of higher education, which mostly issue specialised degrees or provide education mainly in a foreign language. A list of all recognised universities, colleges, and institutes is maintained by the Flemish government in the Higher Education in Flanders Register.


In Wallonia distinctions are made between:

  • Universities: abbreviate as WL Uni
  • Colleges (“Hautes Ecoles”): abbreviate as WL Col
  • Arts colleges: abbreviate as WL A.Col
  • Institutes of architecture: abbreviate as WL I.Arch


A list of all recognised institutes can be found in the list of all recognised institutes is maintained in the Annuaire de l'enseignement supérieur


HEIs of the German-speaking Community are indicated as a "DG" in the first column.


FL uni English name / web pages Original language / web pages' City students
FL Uni University of Antwerp Universiteit Antwerpen Antwerp 11,000
FL Uni Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel Brussels 7,000 (full-time)
FL Uni Vrije Universiteit Brussel Vrije Universiteit Brussel Brussels 9,157
FL Uni Ghent University Universiteit Gent Ghent 30,000
FL Uni Hasselt University Universiteit Hasselt Hasselt 2,219
FL Uni Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Leuven 30,442 (2005-06)
FL Col Antwerp Maritime Academy Hogere Zeevaartschool Antwerp
FL Col Artesis (Hogeschool Antwerpen) Antwerp
FL Col Karel de Grote-Hogeschool Antwerp Karel de Grote-Hogeschool Antwerp 7,250
FL Col Lessius Lessius Antwerp
FL Col Plantijn-Hogeschool (van de Provincie Antwerpen) Antwerp
FL Col Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende Bruges-Ostend
FL Col Erasmushogeschool Brussel Erasmushogeschool Brussel Brussels
FL Col Sint-Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel Brussels Sint-750
FL Col University College for Sciences and Arts Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst Brussels
FL Col KH Kempen University College Katholieke Hogeschool Kempen Geel 6,200
FL Col University College Arteveldehogeschool Arteveldehogeschool Ghent 8,600
FL Col University College Ghent Hogeschool Gent Ghent 15,000
FL Col Catholic University College Ghent Katholieke Hogeschool Sint-Lieven Ghent 5,000
FL Col Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg] Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg Hasselt 5,500
FL Col PHL University College Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg Hasselt
FL Col XIOS University College Limburg XIOS Hogeschool Limburg Hasselt 3,000
FL Col University College West Flanders (HOWEST) Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen Kortrijk-Bruges-Ostend 4,500
FL Col Katholieke Hogeschool Zuid-West-Vlaanderen Katholieke Hogeschool Zuid-West-Vlaanderen Kortrijk 7,000
FL Col Group T-International University College Leuven Groep T - Internationale Hogeschool Leuven Leuven 5,000
FL Col Katholieke Hogeschool Leuven Leuven
FL Col Mechelen University College Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen Mechelen 4,400
FL RHEI Flanders Business School Antwerp
FL RHEI Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde Antwerp 250
FL RHEI College of Europe Bruges/Warsaw 300 in Bruges
FL RHEI Faculteit voor Protestantse Godgeleerdheid Brussel Brussels
FL RHEI Vesalius College Brussels
FL RHEI Evangelical Theological Faculty (ETF) Evangelische Theologische Faculteit Heverlee 200 full-time and part-time
FL RHEI Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School Leuven-Ghent
FL RHEI Continental Theological Seminary Sint-Pieters-Leeuw
WL Uni Université Libre de Bruxelles Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels 20,241 (2006-07)
WL Uni University of Liège Université de Liège Liège 7,000
WL Uni Université catholique de Louvain Université catholique de Louvain Louvain-la-Neuve 21,000
WL Uni Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux Gembloux 1,000
WL Uni Faculté Polytechnique de Mons Faculté Polytechnique de Mons Mons 1,200
WL Uni Université de Mons-Hainaut Mons 3,500
WL Col Haute Ecole Francisco Ferrer de la Ville de Bruxelles
WL Col Haute Ecole Galilee
WL Col Haute Ecole de la Communaute Francaise Paul-Henri Spaak
WL Col Haute Ecole Lucia de Brouckere
WL Col Haute Ecole "groupe I.C.H.E.C. - I.S.C. Saint-Louis - I.S.F.S.C."
WL Col Haute Ecole de Bruxelles
WL Col Haute Ecole libre de bruxelles ilya prigogine - H.E.L.B.
WL Col Haute Ecole Leonard de Vinci
WL Col Haute Ecole E.P.H.E.C
WL Col Haute Ecole de la Ville de Liege
WL Col Haute Ecole Mosane D’enseignement Superieur - Hemes
WL Col Haute Ecole I.S.E.L.L.
WL Col Haute Ecole Charlemagne
FL Col Haute École de la Province de Liège
WL Col Haute Ecole d’Enseignement Superieur de Namur - I.E.S.N.
WL Col Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur
WL Col Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard
WL Col Haute Ecole Namuroise Catholique - H.E.N.A.C.
WL Col Haute Ecole Provinciale de Charleroi - Universite du Travail
WL Col Haute Ecole Catholique Charleroi - Europe
WL Col Haute Ecole de la Communaute Francaise du Luxembourg Schuman
WL Col Haute Ecole Provinciale Mons - Borinage - Centre
WL Col Haute Ecole Roi Baudouin
WL Col Haute Ecole de la Communaute Francaise du Hainaut
WL Col Haute Ecole Libre du Hainaut Occidental - H.E.L.H.O.
WL Col Haute Ecole Provinciale du Hainaut Occidental - H.E.P.H.O.
WL Col Haute Ecole Blaise Pascal - H.E.B.P.
WL A.Col Institut National Superieur des Arts du Spectacle et Techniques de Diffusion
WL A.Col Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Bruxelles Brussels
WL A.Col Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre
WL A.Col Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles
WL A.Col Institut Saint-Luc Brussels / Liège / Tournai
WL A.Col Institut Superieur Libre des Arts Plastiques Ecole de Recherche Graphique - E.R.G.
WL A.Col Ecole Superieure des Arts du Cirque
WL A.Col Etablissement Communal d’Enseignement Superieur Artistique "le 75"
WL A.Col Institut des Arts de Diffusion
WL A.Col Ecole Superieure des Arts de la Ville de Liege
WL A.Col Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Liege
WL A.Col Ecole Superieure des Arts Saint-Luc
WL A.Col Institut Superieur de Musique Et de Pedagogie - I.M.E.P.
WL A.Col Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Mons
WL A.Col Ecole Superieure des Arts Plastiques Et Visuels de la Communaute Francaise - Carre des Arts
WL A.Col Academie des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Tournai
WL A.Col Ecole Superieure des Arts Institut Saint-Luc
WL I.Arch Institut Supérieur d’Architecture Intercommunal - I.S.A.I.
WL I.Arch Institut Supérieur d’Architecture de la Communaute Francaise I.S.A. - La Cambre
WL I.Arch Institut Supérieur d’Architecture Saint-Luc Bruxelles
WL I.Arch Institut Supérieur d’Architecture Saint-Luc Wallonie
DG Col Autonome Hochschule in der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft Eupen

Higher education reform

The Bologna Process

Flanders The higher education reform Act of 4 April 2003 thoroughly changed tertiary education in Flanders. This act is officially called "Decreet van 4 april 2003 betreffende de herstructurering van het hoger onderwijs in Vlaanderen" and unofficially also referred to as the BAMA act or "BAMA-decreet". The Act contains three major lines of action: the introduction of the bachelor-master structure, interinstitutional co-operation between a university and one or more colleges of higher education and the accreditation of training programmes.

  • The colleges of higher education and universities are gradually introducing the bachelor-master structure from the 2004 - 2005 academic year onwards.
  • Higher professional education only offers bachelor courses and is only provided at colleges

of higher education.

  • Academic education consists of bachelor courses and master courses. Academic education is provided at universities and at colleges of higher education operating within the framework of an association.


Related web pages:


Wallonia

Also in the French Community the bachelor-master structure ("baccalauréat-maîtrise" structure)was introduced in recent years.


The French Community distinguishes between universities (offering bachelor, master and doctoral courses) and higher education outside the universities (offering only bachelor courses): colleges (Hautes Ecoles), arts colleges, and institutes of architecture.

Administration and finance

Quality assurance

Higher education institutions in Flanders operate a full fledged credit system based on ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).
The Higher Education Register is a legal register that contains all the accredited higher education programmes in Flanders, Belgium. Only these accredited programmes are recognised by the relevant education authorities. Accredited degree programmes meet, according to the : NVAO (the independent accreditation organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders, Belgium) predefined quality standards.
Source: Short Introduction


Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders

NVAO (in Dutch: Nederlands-Vlaamse Accreditatieorganisatie) is the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders. The organisation was established by international treaty and it ensures the quality of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders.


Mission

The Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO) independently ensures the quality of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders by assessing and accrediting programmes, and contributes to furthering this quality.
In addition, NVAO contributes to raising quality awareness within higher education and advancing the position of higher education in the Netherlands and Flanders in the national and international context.
Source: Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (NVAO)


Introduction to (initial) accreditation

The accreditation procedures of the Netherlands and Flanders relate to both accreditation and initial accreditation. Accreditation concerns programmes that are already offered by institutions and which are registered in the official register of recognised programmes in the Netherlands (i.e. CROHO) and in Flanders (i.e. Higher Education Register). Initial accreditation concerns programmes that are not yet offered and/or which are not registered in the official registers of recognised programmes mentioned above.
The Dutch and Flemish (initial) accreditation systems contain the following elements:
  1. Assessment frameworks for (initial) accreditation consisting of themes, standards and criteria linked with assessment rules;
  2. A description of equivalence in the case of an international accreditation (only applies for Flanders);
  3. Protocols for research master and extended master's programmes (only applies for the Netherlands).


Accreditation

The starting point for accreditation is the accreditation framework. The required procedure, the quality standards and the assessment rules are laid down in this framework.
Accreditation concerns programmes that already award (nationally) recognised degrees. These programmes are included in the official register of the relevant country (i.e. the CROHO in the Netherlands or the Higher Education Register in Flanders). Accreditation relates to the assessment of the quality of the programme and focuses on learning outcomes.
The accreditation procedure consists of three consecutive steps: the self evaluation, the external assessment and the accreditation. You can read more information on these three steps on the NVAO site.
Source: Introduction to (initial) accreditation


Accredidation Framework for Flanders

You can download a PDF for this section: Accredidation Framework for Flanders, (PDF - 23 pages):
Chapter 2 describes the framework for the assessment of programmes in higher education based on an external assessment report.
To assess whether a higher education programme can be granted accreditation, the programme is assessed according to six themes (see chapter 2.1). These themes are:
  1. Aims and objectives
  2. Curriculum
  3. Staff
  4. Services
  5. Internal quality assurance
  6. Results
These themes are assessed according to standards and corresponding criteria, with a differentiation as to level (bachelor or master) and orientation (professional or academic) of the programme.
Source: Accredidation Framework for Flanders, (PDF - 23 pages)



Automatic recognition of qualifications

In the period 2005-2006, organisations responsible for recognition of foreign qualifications and the accreditation organisations from the Netherlands and Flanders, Norway, Austria, Poland and Switzerland signed the Joint Declaration concerning the automatic recognition of qualifications.
This cooperation between accreditation organisations and recognition bodies is considered to be the start of the development of a cross-border qualifications area.
This Joint Declaration was a major advance towards NVAO’s eventual aim, i.e. the realisation of a European Qualifications Area where qualifications from accredited programmes and institutions are automatically recognised.
Source: Automatic recognition of qualifications

Country's HEIs in the information society

Towards the information society

Information society strategy

The ministry of the Flemish Community - Education department is responsible for: (1) funding schools (working resources, salaries, extra subsidies), (2) developing educational targets (so called attainment targets), (3) checking if the attainment targets are reached (via the inspectorate), (4) developing and running specific projects according to contemporary policy and societal needs. The educational school networks act as the representative association of the governing bodies of the schools and take over some of the responsibilities of the governing bodies. They are in charge of pedagogical and organisational issues such as: curriculum development, timetables, school support, etc.

The 4 main educational school networks are:

  • The Flemish Community Education
  • The Education Secretariat of the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities
  • The Flemish Secretariat for Catholic Education
  • The Flemish Provincial-authority Education Group


Policy Programs In the knowledge society a new paradigm about learning and teaching gradually emerges: the learning polymorph, with at its core the active learning process of every learner. This implies the setting up of powerful learning environments that are able to strike a balance between the self-monitoring of learners on the one hand and the range of assisting actors (the teacher, peers, the teaching team) and the processes (ranging from strictly controlled to total self-monitoring) on the other hand. The school, as an organisation, needs to be empowered and grow through the impetus of ICT and new learning, evolving towards multimedia and open learning centres. Teachers play a key role in schools. Within this learning environment ICT is one of educational resources – as a tool and as a target - but it can support learners, teachers and peers in the social and interactive process which is learning. The government policy aims at the following objectives: • ICT-competencies for all • Improving and providing access to ICT infrastructure • Introduction of oss (Open Source Software) in education and the creation of a new educational portal for digital content • More and better support for ICT- coordinators • Continuous efforts to train all teachers in the use of ICT. • Monitoring and evaluation

Virtual initiatives in HE

In the following table we would like to highlight three initiatives that we consider to be important virtual learning opportunities in Belgium

Table 1

Nr Name Institution City Type
1. BIS Online Begeleid Individueel Studeren (BIS) – Ministry of Education Brussels Distance learning. Inactive now.
2. Open Universiteit Vlaanderen (subdivision of OUNL) Coördinatiebureau Vlaanderen in the University of Ghent / OUNL Ghent Distance learning
3. Toledo the K.U.Leuven Association Leuven VLE, LMS, Student manual (PDF)
4. Virtual Campus of ULg University of Liège Liège e-learning portal (e-Agora), LMS (WebCT – Blackboard?) with e-courses


Furthermore, it is also interesting to see how a 'traditional university' as the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U.Leuven) in Belgium progressively organizes its educational support from a multicampus perspective.


A paper on state-of-the-art of e-learning in Belgium is available at http://www.easy-elearning.net/downloads/e-learning_in_Belgium.pdf

An 'eLearning Country Brief of Belgium' of the eUSER project is available at http://euser-eu.org/eUSER_eLearningCountryBrief.asp?CaseID=2240&CaseTitleID=1081&MenuID=117

Related wiki pages

For more examples visit this page: Belgium Research or view our WORD document with detailed information for most of our examples.

Furthermore, for corporate e-learning there's the Belgian network for Open & Distance learning (BE-ODL).


References

  1. Wikipage on Belgium
  2. Wikipage on the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium
  3. Information about Higher Education on Belgium.be
  4. The web site for the ministry of Education and Formation
  5. “EDUCATION IN FLANDERS - The Flemish educational landscape in a nutshell”, PDF
  6. Wikipedia’s page on Belgium Universities and Colleges
  7. Higher Education in Flanders Register
  8. Study in Flanders
  9. Introduction to (initial) accreditation (EN)
  10. Accreditation (EN)
  11. Accredidation Framework for Flanders (EN)
  12. Automatic recognition of qualifications (EN)
  13. Joint declaration automatic recognition qualifications December 2005 (PDF) (EN)

Interesting country reports concerning elearning:

State of the art of e-learning in Belgium


> Countries

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