Information for foreign students

Welcome to the information page for foreign students who are interested in studying at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. If you wish to participate in our educational programmes, please consult the information below.

Come to Leuven !

Leuven (Louvain) is an attractive university city in the centre of Flanders (Belgium), only 25 km from Brussels, the heart of Europe. It is located at the great divide between Germanic and Latin Europe. Leuven is undoubtedly an international meeting point, full of young bright people, a nursery of the Europe to be. The central position of Belgium and a dense network of roads and railroads provide easy access to cities like Amsterdam, Cologne, London and Paris (in less than three hours by train or by bus!).

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the oldest university (1425 A.D.) in the Low Countries (Benelux), has a splendid academic history with such personalities as Erasmus, Mercator, Vesalius and Minckelers as former faculty members. The university currently counts 25000 students, 10% are of foreign origin. The sprankling multi-cultural life adds a young and dynamic feature to the old city. Cultural activities in English are abundant. Films are always shown in their original language.

You will find all information regarding your application, stay and student live in Leuven at the website of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Register Your User Account

In order to view some information on this website, a login is required.

Master industrial Management

On behalf of the Faculty of Engineering, the Department of Mechanical Engineering organises a postgraduate programme of Master of Industrial Management that complements the engineer's technical expertise with managerial aspects such as investment analysis, plant location, production and distribution planning, material handling, maintenance and quality. This English programme is a cooperation between K.U.Leuven, KaHo Sint-Lieven, PIH West-Vlaanderen and ICAM Lille. More information is available at the division CIB.

PhD

All professors and assistants at the Department of Mechanical Engineering speak English and much of the research work and publications are also in English. It is therefore no problem for foreign students to carry out a PhD research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. To be admitted to the doctoral programme one should have succeeded with honours in his Master examination or any degree equivalent to it (burgerlijk ingenieur (Belgium), Diplom Ingenieur (Germany),...), or in a predoctoral examination. In fact for foreign students the Faculty always requires a predoctoral test, but depending on the candidate’s background, it may be taken immediately after arrival or require a preparation time anywhere between three months and one year. In order to obtain a PhD in engineering (doctor’s degree) the candidate must carry out research during at least three years on a relevant research topic, under the supervision of a professor. The doctoral programme also includes a number of courses to be followed and seminars to be attended. The doctoral examination consists of the public defence of an original thesis. The thesis should represent research of a theoretical and experimental nature or work of technical-scientific character and should be a significant contribution to the knowledge and know how in the field. It is expected that the candidate will have published most of his results in journals or presented at international conferences.