University colleges
Choose your institution
The university colleges (hautes écoles) are non-university higher education institutions whose courses prepare for specific professional practices.
The 21 university colleges in the Federation Wallonia-Brussels offer undergraduate courses (short-term courses) or undergraduate and graduate courses (long-term courses), in eight areas of studies:
- Agronomics;
- Applied arts;
- Economics;
- Paramedical;
- Education;
- Social;
- Technology;
- Translation and Interpretation.
Organisation of studies
The undergraduate courses (short-term courses) lead to the conferral of the Bachelor’s degree. They correspond to 180 to 240 credits which can be acquired in three or four years of study. These courses are both practical and theoretical and often lead directly to the exercise of a specific profession. Some university colleges also offer a year of specialisation at the end of this undergraduate course.
The combined undergraduate and graduate courses (long-term courses) offer cutting-edge scientific and technological programs that lead to the conferral of a:
- Bachelor’s degree, at the end of the undergraduate course. This course of training corresponds to 180 credits vouching for the completion of three years of study. This undergraduate course offers a general scientific training and a specific training ensuring the “transition” towards the graduate course.
- Master’s degree, at the end of the graduate course. This course of training corresponds to 60 or 120 ECTS credits that can be acquired in one or two years of study. The Master’s studies consist of a specialisation in the chosen discipline.
Please note: the long-term courses organised by the university colleges are of university level. In fact, there is equivalence between the degrees delivered by the universities and the university colleges.
