University colleges offer advanced scientific and technological courses that prepare for professions requiring high qualifications. They are active in applied research in close contact with the professional world and academia.
The university colleges in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation organise a higher education in a single cycle (short-cycle) or two cycles (long-cycle), in 13 areas of study:
Human and Social sciences
- Information and communication
- Political and social sciences
- Law
- Economics and Management
- Psychology and Education
Health
- Biomedicine and pharmacy
- Public health sciences
- Motor sciences
Science and technology
- Sciences
- Agriculture and Bioloengineering
- Engineering and Technology
- Architecture and urban planning
Art
- Plastic, visual and spatial arts
There are 20 university colleges recognised and subsidised by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation:
- Haute Ecole de la Province de Liège (HEPL)
- Haute Ecole Louvain en Hainaut (HELHa)
- Haute Ecole provinciale de Hainaut – Condorcet (HE Condorcet)
- Haute Ecole Léonard de Vinci (HE Vinci)
- Haute Ecole libre mosane (HELMo)
- Haute Ecole de Namur-Liège-Luxembourg (HENALLUX)
- Haute Ecole Galilée (HEG)
- Haute Ecole EPHEC (EPHEC)
- Haute Ecole en Hainaut (HEH)
- Haute Ecole Charlemagne (HECH)
- Haute Ecole « Groupe ICHEC – ISC Saint-Louis – ISFSC » (HE ICHEC ISFSC)
- Haute Ecole Fransisco Ferrer (HEFF)
- Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard (HEAJ)
- Haute Ecole libre de Bruxelles - Ilya Prigogine (HELB)
- Haute Ecole Robert Schuman (HERS)
- Haute Ecole de la Ville de Liège (HEL)
- Haute Ecole Lucia de Brouckère (HELDB)
- Haute Ecole de la Province de Namur (HEPN)
- Haute Ecole Bruxelles-Brabant (HE2B)
Organisation of studies
The university colleges organise higher education in a single cycle (short-cycle) or two cycles (long-cycle).
Studies in a single cycle, the so-called "professionally-oriented" studies lead to the award of a Bachelor's degree. They correspond to 180 credits that can be earned in three years of study. These courses usually lead to the exercise of a specific profession immediately after completion of studies.
Exceptionally, some studies may correspond to 240 credits.
Some universities also offer a year of specialisation (60 credits) at the end of this unique cycle: the Specialised Bachelor.
Teaching organised into two cycles leads to the award of the following degrees:
- Bachelor’s degree, after the first cycle. This course corresponds to 180 credits that can be earned in three years of study. This first cycle offers general scientific training and specific training to ensure the "transition" to the second cycle.
- Master’s degree, after the second cycle. This course corresponds to 60 or 120 credits that can be earned in one or two years of study. The Master’s course includes a specialised instruction in the chosen discipline.