Admission and enrolment conditions
To study for a Bachelor’s degree course in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, international students must have a diploma granting access to the cycle requested and must complete the selection procedure envisaged for certain paths (civil engineer, medicine, dental sciences, veterinary medicine, speech therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation). Please note that an application for equivalence of qualification is required.
In additions to the recognition of your diploma, the schools of arts require you to take an admission test, which aims to demonstrate that you fulfil the prerequisites for your chosen course.
This admission test is only for enrolling in first year Bachelor courses.
The tests generally take place between 1 May and 1 June, as well as between 25 June and 21 September, over a period of up to two weeks.
Your test result is valid for your chosen course only, and for a time period set by the school (up to five years).
Art courses without entrance exam
Artistic and creative courses (computer graphics, fabric arts, photography and film techniques…) organised by certain university colleges are accessible without admission test!
For more information, please contact the school of arts of your choice.
You do not need to pass a French language test to enrol for a Bachelor’s degree, except for the following three teaching paths:
- Bachelor’s degree: certified lower secondary education teacher;
- Bachelor’s degree: primary school teacher;
- Bachelor’s degree: preschool teacher.
To validate your enrolment in one of these teaching paths, you must prove that you have a B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEF) in French, providing evidence of successfully having passed a standardised test (DALD (B2), DELF (B2), TEF (Level 4) or TCF (B2)).
Only the following students are dispensed from this:
- those whose mother tongue is French;
- nationals of countries whose official language is French;
- or those who have obtained least 45 credits in a course taught in French.
Take a look at our advice on how to learn French in French-speaking Belgium.
If you meet the above admission conditions, you can move onto the next steps in enrolment:
- Fill out an admission request on-line, on the website of your chosen higher education institution. Even if the calendar is specific to each institution, we recommend you enrol some time in February and 31 March.
- Complete your file with all the documents required (photocopy of passport, qualification, letter explaining your reasons, etc.) and post or e-mail it.
- Your application is considered (this step can take several weeks).
- Your file manager will tell you what decision has been made by your chosen higher education institution. If accepted, you will receive authorisation to enrol.
Please note: if you wish to enrol in a quota path, like veterinary medicine, physical therapy, speech therapy or medicine and dental sciences, the date of 31 March is irrelevant. In these cases, enrolment is only possible as specifically envisaged (random draw, entrance exam, guidance test, etc.).
If you are not a European Union national, you must have sufficient resources to be able to study for your Bachelor’s degree in French-speaking Belgium. You will therefore need to provide the higher education institution of your choosing with a detailed financial plan. This is mandatory and should describe the nature, source and amount of resources you can gather to complete your studies in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Once sent, this financial plan will be checked by the higher education institution and by the Foreign Office.
To obtain a study visa for Belgium, you must prove that you have sufficient means of subsistence to cover your healthcare, living costs, study and repatriation costs to your home country. The minimum amount of this is set and indexed each year by Royal Decree. For the 2022-2023 academic year, it is a net €670/month.
Please note: bear in mind that this monthly figure will not suffice to pay for your study stay. You must have other sources of finance available. You will need, for example, to pay a deposit on your accommodation when you arrive. Find out how much it costs per year to study in Belgium.
In a nutshell: your annual financial plan must cover the following
€10,000 = sufficient resources to complete your studies
+ €4,175 or €835 = registration fees
In addition to meeting the legal conditions to be allowed to study, non European Union nationals must also meet certain academic conditions to be able to submit their file to the admission committees. Set by a panel, they may differ from one higher education institution to the next. To find out all about the admission conditions, please contact the admissions service of your future institution.
Note, however, that if you come under one of the following categories, you do not need to worry about these minimum academic conditions:
- “equated” students (e.g. refugees and asylum-seekers);
- students with a Belgian certificate of upper secondary education;
- students applying to enrol in an undergraduate course subject to selection in application of the “non-residents” decree (veterinary, physical therapy, speech therapy, medicine and dental sciences);
- students with valid residence permit in Belgium and who have taken the entrance examination for engineering studies;
- students applying to enrol on the basis of a qualification obtained in the European Union (exceptions are possible if duly explained).