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High-quality education

uclouvain |

A wide range of courses

As a comprehensive university, UCLouvain offers more than 400 programmes in all fields of knowledge, including bachelor's, master's, PhD, and continuing education courses. 
 

High-quality education

It is through their daily experiences that students and faculty members experience the high quality of UCLouvain education and teaching. 

Numerous initiatives provide every teacher and student with the support they need to become key actors in the quality of teaching and learning at UCLouvain.

The quality of a student's education depends above all on their own commitment to their studies. At UCLouvain, we believe that it is also our responsibility to provide each student with the best possible learning environment. 

The resources made available to students throughout their studies are means through which the university supports the quality of the learning experience. This includes: 

  • the welcome and guidance offered from the start of the course;
  • full recognition of students’ role as participants in representative and decision-making bodies;
  • compliance with and transparency of rules and procedures.

Each teacher's disciplinary and pedagogical skills, their willingness to consider their teaching as a field of expertise, and their desire to work as part of a team in the service of learning are all factors that also contribute to course quality. 

For this reason, UCLouvain provides each teacher with a set of tools and resources. These enable them to engage in a continuous process of evaluation, development, and enhancement of their teaching practices. This commitment is pursued in accordance with other aspects of their academic activity and in a manner appropriate to the teaching contexts and diversity of their audiences. 
Tools and resources include:

  • The Louvain Learning Lab (LLL) launches and coordinates various educational initiatives. Its mission is to support teaching staff, promote the ideas and actions of university community members in the field of teaching and learning, and seek new avenues for educational innovation.
  • The Academic Programme Quality Support Service (QOPA) aims to support the provision of education. It provides programme managers and teaching staff with the means to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of their programmes and teaching units in order to define concrete lines of action to improve academic education and its presentation.

Various actions are described in detail in the institutional manual, which sets out the policy, criteria and procedures for achieving high-quality education and teaching at UCLouvain. The following lines of action are presented therein: 

  1. Support tailored to the specific needs of each student, with success as the goal.
  2. The development and enhancement of the pedagogical skills of teaching staff and programme managers.
  3. An environment, course materials and technologies that promote learning.
  4. A wide range of university and continuing education courses, backed up by research.

Innovative education

The University has embraced open education, promoting an approach grounded in openness, collaboration and the sharing of knowledge. In addition to traditional printed materials, UCLouvain provides a range of digital tools to teaching staff to enrich the learning materials and activities they offer their students.

A significant proportion of course materials is made available as Open Educational Resources (OER), freely accessible without restriction. Digital learning materials – including books – are openly available and distributed to educators, students and independent learners around the world.

Printed materials

Syllabi and course packs are available online and can be printed directly by students. Increasingly, these materials are made available in advance of teaching sessions. They enable students to acquire accurate and comprehensive knowledge aligned with the course objectives.

Providing materials in this way has a positive impact on student motivation. Students are more intellectually engaged during course activities and can focus their note-taking on developing a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Visual materials

Images, photographs, slide presentations, diagrams and videos provide valuable support for the teaching activities designed by teaching staff and to the lectures delivered in the lecture hall. They contribute to students’ deeper engagement with and understanding of the material presented.

Multimedia resources

Tutorials, interactive syllabi, simulations and practice tools enhance learning support by introducing dynamic, digital elements into the learning experience. Through interactive formats, digital tools provide direct support for students’ academic progress.

MOOCs

Since 2014, UCLouvain has been offering massive open online courses (MOOCs). These online courses are freely accessible to anyone, without the need to enrol at the University (with the exception of optional verified assessment arrangements). This initiative reflects the University’s strong commitment to open education. It provides access to fully developed learning resources and offers courses that can be followed entirely online or, for our students, combined with on-campus teaching activities.

Moodle

The Moodle e-learning platform is used in most courses to supplement teaching activities. This learning management system (LMS) enriches courses enabling lecturers and students to:

  • integrate and use digital resources;
  • monitor and manage learning;
  • assess progress throughout the academic year;
  • organise individual and group assignments;
  • collaborate on both academic and extracurricular activities.

A wide range of technologies supports the University’s digital and innovative approach to teaching.

For students
  • Wooclap: an interactive polling tool that encourages participation and interaction during lectures in large lecture halls.
  • Podcasting EZPlayer: software that enables lecturers to record their lectures and make them available to students online.
  • Learning Centres: dedicated spaces combining resources, services and expertise to provide students with a distinctive learning experience.
  • Office 365 Cloud: extensive storage capacity, document sharing and editing tools, as well as access to a professional productivity suite.
  • Padlet: an online collaborative application that allows users to create and share virtual boards.
  • Genially: a platform for creating multimedia content, infographics, educational games and interactive learning pathways.
For teaching staff
  • Safe Exam Browser: an online assessment system that provides secure, efficient and pedagogically robust exam conditions, going beyond multiple-choice tests and optical mark recognition.
  • Gradescope: software designed to support the marking of open-ended questions in tests and written exams, as well as written assignments. 

Not to mention the many digital initiatives and learning environments developed within the faculties and as part of specific projects:

  • state-of-the-art laboratory for future dentists
    UCLouvain’s future dentists benefit from a simulation environment that ranks among the most advanced in Europe. Each workstation is equipped with sophisticated didactic equipment and a touchscreen display for live demonstrations.
  • Skill Centre
    This 400 m² clinical skills centre includes a seminar room and ultra-modern consultation rooms. It provides students from the Faculty of Medicine with state-of-the-art facilities for practical training, both from a medical and a technological perspective.

A lifelong learning partner

UCLouvain offers more than 200 continuing education programmes with flexible or daytime schedules. 

These programmes are designed for adults engaged in professional life, regardless of sector (private, public, non-profit). 
These programmes bring together teams of teachers and experts in the field and help to anchor the training in the professional world. They are designed to reconcile training with professional, personal and social life, in particular through flexible timetables, the possibility of spreading the academic year over two years and the organisation of distance learning. 

Education grounded in high-quality research

The intrinsic link between research and education lies at the very heart of the University.

Through the research it conducts, UCLouvain brings critical perspective to a world increasingly driven by immediacy. The University is committed to fostering an environment that supports internationally recognised research and contributes to the development and transmission of knowledge and expertise.

In practical terms, UCLouvain students benefit from an education that is rooted in a dynamic, high-performing research culture – one that is creative, stimulating and forward-looking.

An international reputation that fosters mobility

At UCLouvain, international experience is a central component of university education, enabling you to:

  • expand your knowledge within your field of study;
  • experience different approaches to learning;
  • strengthen your language skills while gaining valuable intercultural experience;
  • enhance your professional integration and career prospects.

A strong emphasis on language learning

Language learning is promoted throughout the university curriculum, enabling you to achieve genuine multicultural and professional integration by the end of your studies. To this end, the University has put in place a range of initiatives: bilingual or trilingual bachelor’s courses, language modules included within study programmes, and master’s courses taught partially or entirely in English.
 

Interdisciplinary openness

At UCLouvain, bachelor’s students have the opportunity to choose a minor in their second and third years. Comprising a coherent set of modules, the minor is designed to help you develop your own personal learning pathway. It enables you to reflect on your academic journey and determine the focus and direction you wish to give it.

A learning environment conducive to success

Across its campuses, UCLouvain provides students with a wide range of resources designed to support them in their academic journey in the best possible environment:

  • 11 libraries;
  • a network of computer-based teaching rooms;
  • five Learning Centres;
  • laboratories;
  • dedicated teaching rooms.

Numbering 11 and organised by faculty or academic discipline, UCLouvain’s libraries provide access to a wide range of scholarly resources, including:

  • books and other materials available on site (for consultation or loan);
  • access to online journals, databases, e-books and online theses;
  • access to computers and to the UCLouvain Wi-Fi network.

The libraries collaborate and work in partnership with other universities in order to provide the widest possible access to information.

Accessible free of charge to the University community, they also serve as study spaces, offering both individual study areas and rooms for group work.

Available to students across UCLouvain’s campuses, computer rooms provide resources and services to support education and research activities related to their course.
These services include access to:

  • office software and specialised software used in courses;
  • personal storage space;
  • printers;
  • specific peripherals (laser printers, scanners, card readers, etc.).

The facilities are updated regularly.

UCLouvain’s Learning Centres respond to the digital transformation and facilitate the development of new forms of support for knowledge acquisition.
Their ambition is to renew approaches to learning and to provide concrete support for students to succeed. As spaces for study, collaboration and exchange, they offer a combination of resources, services and expertise that provide students a distinctive learning experience, including:

  • library and information services, online research spaces, and access to printed and digital materials;
  • small-group study rooms and large-group workspaces;
  • silent study areas;
  • computer workstations;
  • projection equipment and screen-sharing facilities;
  • multimedia rooms;
  • classrooms, a room-booking system, and spaces for innovative teaching and learning.
    Learning Centres provide a welcoming study environment: food and drink are permitted within the cafeteria area, mobile phones are allowed, extended opening hours, etc.

UCLouvain’s laboratories are equipped with the latest technology, enabling students to develop their scientific curiosity. They provide an ideal environment for fostering observation and the scientific method, as well as for using equipment employed in professional settings.
Where appropriate, faculties make laboratories available for practical sessions, allowing students to apply theoretical concepts in practice. These laboratories also enable master’s students to carry out observations or experiments as part of their dissertation.

Depending on their field of study, students may have access to additional specialised teaching spaces designed to develop specific skills, such as:

  • a moot court in the Faculty of Law, for advocacy training;
  • a training pharmacy in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences;
  • greenhouses in the Faculty of Bioengineering;
  • a psychological test library in the Faculty of Psychology and Education;
  • physiotherapy rooms or facilities within the Blocry Sports Complex for the Faculty of Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences.