Incoming Students

4 good reasons to study in Brussels:

• A cosmopolitan & multicultural city
• The greenest of Europe's capitals
• Next door to European Institutions
• 1:30 hours from Paris; 1:50 hours from Amsterdam, 2:10 hours from London

"Brussels might not be the most “beautiful” city at first glance, but it offers so much to discover and if there’s one thing for sure, I didn’t get bored here for a second. What makes this time special to me is that I gained a much better understanding of the European Union and its institutions. Living in the “capital of Europe” and making friends with students from so many different countries has certainly strengthened my own European identity. In addition, Brussels is the perfect base for day trips to other interesting Belgian cities like Antwerp, Bruges, or Ghent, but also for weekends in Amsterdam or Paris.

Our School, Solvay, offers exchange students a wide range of courses that are usually very practice-focused at the master level. Although I didn’t speak a word of French when I came here, this did not feel like much of a disadvantage at all. Moreover, I’d like to highlight the multiple career and social events organised by student club Cercle Solvay, which provided an amazing variety to everyday university life.

All in all, I can say that I had a great time in Brussels and would do this exchange semester at ULB again in a heartbeat!"

Quinton GRAHAM-BENETT

"Having finished all the exams, and after a week of very intense studying, I am enjoying my last few days in Brussels with my friends and looking back at an eventful, fruitful, and simply very fun exchange semester. It started off with arriving in a sunny and warm Brussels which lasted long into October! As the seasons gradually changed, and it sure got colder and less sunny, the good times as an exchange student at ULB and the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management continued. As if just being an Erasmus student and taking part in all the social activities this brings wasn’t enough, our own student club Cercle Solvay always made sure to include us exchange students in their activities and events. This is how we got to meet local Belgian students, while taking part in the amazing Belgian student life that ULB offers. I was able to attend highly unique events such as the Belgian ‘Cantus’, an Anderlecht-football game, and not to forget the (notorious) “TDs”. It has been said by my fellow students many times before, but Cercle Solvay and “Erasmus chief” Charlotte Moens deserve much credit for their job! It’s a really nice way to integrate exchange students with local Belgian students, and the even had the patience to let a Swedish student practice my (sometimes very dubious) French. There is no doubt that this Solvay’s location in Brussels is fully leveraged: the connection between the University and certain EU institutions in unquestionable, with some teachers actually working with the topics simultaneously on the EU level. For a course in Tax Policy, not only was my professor highly educated on the topic, but he was also Head of Unit at the European Commission’s GD for Taxation and Customs Union. For another course, we had the opportunity to visit the Parliament to attend a seminar with an MEP—just to mention a couple of examples. As I go back to Sweden and my home university, I look back at a semester that enriched my degree and student experience on many levels—and I would recommend everyone to do the same."