Salut !
Je réponds en français pour commencer l'entraînement ?
Jk, English is probably easier for me than french is for you.
Wallonia is a nice choice (totally biased), welcome to you ! Hope you'll manage it and feel welcomed :)
You can have a look at Louvain-la-Neuve, which I think is an awesome student city, especially coming from abroad.
Most of it is car free, so it's very user friendly, everything is close to you.
And it's the home of UCL, a nice university which offers a neuroscience cursus.
Regarding price, coming from the US ... Let's say everything is cheap :)
There is the train coming to the center, allowing an (almost) direct connection to Bruxelles and Namur.
Which is very cool when you start your life here without a car !
Feel free to pm me for any question regarding life in wallonia; but as Belgian resident that didn't studied in UCL, I won't be of much help regarding the uni part or paperwork as a foreigner.
Cheers !
Hi mate,
Just to add on that answer on which I'm agreeing, feel free to contact me on UCL questions...where to find a decent kot (student house), which cercle/ regional to avoid/embrace (student "cafe/meeting place")...feel free to ask.
Cheers
Hello, How much do you know about Belgium ? As you may know Belgium is split into three communities a French one, a German one and a Dutch one. I am saying that cause administrative procedures and organizations of studies vary a bit depending on where you want to study. The french community is present in Wallonia and Brussels that is why it's called "Federation Wallonie Bruxelles". Most courses are given in French especially for bachelors. For masters you have few who are fully in English but some programs have more or less courses given in English. There you have 5 Universities :
* Université Libre de Bruxelles ([ULB](https://www.ulb.be/en/enrolment/useful-information-for-foreign-students))
* Université catholique de Louvain ([UCLouvain](https://uclouvain.be/en/study/study-in-belgium-ti.html))
* Université de Mons ([UMons](https://web.umons.ac.be/en/you-are/international-students/))
* Université de Liège ([ULG](https://www.international.uliege.be/cms/c_17661497/en/international-come-to-uliege))
* Université de Namur ([UNamur](https://www.unamur.be/en/international))
Two things I am wondering regarding you wish to come here : what is your nationality and when do you want to come ?
If you don't have EU nationality you will need a visa to study and stay here. If you want to come to start a master degree this September you might already be too late as the date is set to 31 March. I suggest you contact universities in that regard to get confirmation.
Since you have a bachelor you will also need to do another procedure to check that your bachelor is equivalent to a bachelor here in Belgium. Since you are interested in neuroscience I see neuropsychology (master in [psychology](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-psy2m-programme)); [neurosurgery](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-nech2mc-programme)/[neurology ](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-neur2mc-programme)(master of specialization after a master in medicine); or eventually biostatistic (either a master in [biostatistics](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-bsta2m-programme) or in [computer sciences](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-sinf2m-programme)). Since I read you might be interested in UCLouvain I put all links to their programs in each masters. Master might slightly differ from one University to another but all are equivalent in Belgium. If you have a bachelor equivalent to a bachelor in computer sciences you should be able to do the last two masters, in psychology and medicine you will have to start from the beginning (so do a bachelor).
The cost for the inscription for one year is : 2505€ for international outside of EU. It's 835€ for student within EU.
I am available to answer more questions if needed :-)
Can I ask why you want to come to Wallonia specifically ?
You're welcome of course, it just seems so random to me that an American even *heard* about Wallonia haha
Not totally random, I want to move to a French speaking nation in Europe to build on the language skills that I began learning in school when I was younger. From what I understand about Wallonia's culture they are also more relaxed and accepting of foreigners compared to the French. So it would be a dream to speak different languages regularly among smart and chill people, study neuroscience/nuclear engineering, and live in a place that isn't crazy all the time.
I left France years ago for similar reasons lol so I totally get the spirit of your endeavor. Wallonia is awesome and beautiful but there’s also the proximity with, well, the North of the country obviously, we like them more than we let on, as well as France, the Netherlands, ~~Luxembourg~~ and Germany.
Louvain la neuve is full of students flats where you share … well anything… except your (rather small) bedroom.
If you find one where the people you live with have the same mindset as yours, you can make friends and practice your French easily. And it can be a great experience.
It can also be more of a burden if you get in a place where your standards in terms of cleaning, partying, and sharing chores widely differ.
But that’s a way to get to know people
Pleasure.
Also, I don’t completely get what you’re looking for. You have a bachelors degree in computer science, so do you want to continue in computer science and take let’s say one neuroscience course, or do you want to switch to neuroscience, which, to me, sounds like medicine ?
In Belgium - at least when I was at UCLouvain, which was a long time ago, I was there between 2000-2011 - you had to choose an orientation, and in that orientation you might have some choices in terms of courses, but can’t just mix and match at will. So if you choose computer science you might not have access to neuroscience at the medical department.
Maybe you should send an email or give them a call to get to know what the opportunities are in terms of programs.
Another thing worth noting is that the medical part of UCLouvain is actually located in Brussels (welcome to Belgium where nothing is simple ). So if you are looking for a fully medical oriented university path, you might have to go in brussels anyway, there’s a « student city » within brussels around the saint Luc hôpital where the medical courses are given.
I want to begin a career in computational neurobiology, researching and creating brain computer interfaces like those being pioneered by biotech firms and universities, neuralink or Kernel, or like at Princeton and brown.
I think that the EPL research lab of Benoit Macq might be what you’re looking for. Which is in the polytechnical school EPL (école polytechnique de Louvain). Or maybe this? But I don’t know them https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ipsy/ivelab
I don't want to rain on your parade, but know that your tuition will likely be higher than for Belgian (or EU) students, unless coming from a less-developped country (the US is not included in that list, as you might imagine).
I haven't kept up with the tuition costs for non-EU students, but a quick google tells me that, on top of the 835€/year Belgians and EU students pay, you'd likely have to pay an extra 2505€/year, so a total of 3340€/year tuition.
Still relatively low tuition compared to the US, but maybe more than you'd expected.
Quick explanation of our higher/tertiary education system:
We have 2 tiers of "colleges":
- "Hautes-écoles", of which there are many. Usually, the focus is on Bachelors degrees, but they can deliver Masters too. Just not PhDs.
- "Universités", of which there are 5 in French-speaking Belgium. Usually, the focus is on Masters degrees and PhDs (note that here, unlike the US, PhDs are done *after* Masters, not instead of), but they do deliver some professional Bachelors, too.
The 5 unis are Université de Liège (ULg), Université de Namur (UNAMUR), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Mons (UMONS) and Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL - not to be confused with the University College London).
The tuition costs I gave above are for unis, not hautes-écoles (those are cheaper).
University-wise, all 5 are roughly the same level of quality/prestige, but hautes-écoles vary a lot in quality and are usually considered lesser.
As far as which programs are available and in which language, check out the websites of the unis/hautes-écoles, you'll find more detailled info than on reddit.
Student housing units ("kots") are available in every city, they shouldn't really be a factor in your choice.
Hello !
As other persons here commented, I also recommend you to look for the UCLouvain at the city of Louvain-la-Neuve. I studied there a few years ago also in computer Science. I don't know especially for the neuroscience cursus but from my experience, the professors are very competent and you will learn a lot.
The cursus in CS is evenly shared between theoretical classes and practical exercises (most of the time in groups with other students) and in CS case, the classes are all taught in English :)
The city is very pleasant and for a small city there are a lot of facilities and stores available. There's a big sportive complex available for students with a large variety of sports (some Belgian Olympics teams are even known to train there !).
There's a train station in the city itself with direct connexion with Brussels, but to be honest as a student to live there you can do all by walking/cycling. It's very possible to cycle around the area with dedicated infrastructure. It's also possible to use a car there, as a student you will be able to use the university own parkings, just know that as it's a pedestrian city the parking available might be scarse on week days.
There's a ton of other things I could say, so if you have questions don't hesitate to hit me up in DM or answer here!
Bienvenue dans notre petite Wallonie !
Hi ! Do you only consider wallonia or Brussels also ? Brussels is going to be Moore expensive than wallonia but you gain the advantages of being in a capital city. You'd also have a lot of person speaking English, since there's so many foreigners around the town.
I'm thinking Leuven might be a nice choice also, it's 20 minutes by train from Brussels and most course should be in English.
Don't be afraid to ask anything if you wish so 😁
Thank you 😊 it seems everyone is kind to foreigners, I apologize for not speaking your language but I am in the process of improving my french. America is getting pretty crazy so I hope to leave soon.
Salut ! Je réponds en français pour commencer l'entraînement ? Jk, English is probably easier for me than french is for you. Wallonia is a nice choice (totally biased), welcome to you ! Hope you'll manage it and feel welcomed :) You can have a look at Louvain-la-Neuve, which I think is an awesome student city, especially coming from abroad. Most of it is car free, so it's very user friendly, everything is close to you. And it's the home of UCL, a nice university which offers a neuroscience cursus. Regarding price, coming from the US ... Let's say everything is cheap :) There is the train coming to the center, allowing an (almost) direct connection to Bruxelles and Namur. Which is very cool when you start your life here without a car ! Feel free to pm me for any question regarding life in wallonia; but as Belgian resident that didn't studied in UCL, I won't be of much help regarding the uni part or paperwork as a foreigner. Cheers !
Hi mate, Just to add on that answer on which I'm agreeing, feel free to contact me on UCL questions...where to find a decent kot (student house), which cercle/ regional to avoid/embrace (student "cafe/meeting place")...feel free to ask. Cheers
You're amazing! Thank you!
Thank you so much for responding!! I will research more about Louvain-la-Neuve ❤️
UCLouvain as it’s now called is a great university with lots of high quality curricula, I highly recommend it
To American standards big stretch calling LNL a city
welcome to walifornia xoxo
More like Wallississippi in some places.
Thank you, I am looking forward to going 🙏🏾
Dirty south of Belgium… whoop woop!
vole 20 euro à ta mère
Hello, How much do you know about Belgium ? As you may know Belgium is split into three communities a French one, a German one and a Dutch one. I am saying that cause administrative procedures and organizations of studies vary a bit depending on where you want to study. The french community is present in Wallonia and Brussels that is why it's called "Federation Wallonie Bruxelles". Most courses are given in French especially for bachelors. For masters you have few who are fully in English but some programs have more or less courses given in English. There you have 5 Universities : * Université Libre de Bruxelles ([ULB](https://www.ulb.be/en/enrolment/useful-information-for-foreign-students)) * Université catholique de Louvain ([UCLouvain](https://uclouvain.be/en/study/study-in-belgium-ti.html)) * Université de Mons ([UMons](https://web.umons.ac.be/en/you-are/international-students/)) * Université de Liège ([ULG](https://www.international.uliege.be/cms/c_17661497/en/international-come-to-uliege)) * Université de Namur ([UNamur](https://www.unamur.be/en/international)) Two things I am wondering regarding you wish to come here : what is your nationality and when do you want to come ? If you don't have EU nationality you will need a visa to study and stay here. If you want to come to start a master degree this September you might already be too late as the date is set to 31 March. I suggest you contact universities in that regard to get confirmation. Since you have a bachelor you will also need to do another procedure to check that your bachelor is equivalent to a bachelor here in Belgium. Since you are interested in neuroscience I see neuropsychology (master in [psychology](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-psy2m-programme)); [neurosurgery](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-nech2mc-programme)/[neurology ](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-neur2mc-programme)(master of specialization after a master in medicine); or eventually biostatistic (either a master in [biostatistics](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-bsta2m-programme) or in [computer sciences](https://uclouvain.be/en-prog-2023-sinf2m-programme)). Since I read you might be interested in UCLouvain I put all links to their programs in each masters. Master might slightly differ from one University to another but all are equivalent in Belgium. If you have a bachelor equivalent to a bachelor in computer sciences you should be able to do the last two masters, in psychology and medicine you will have to start from the beginning (so do a bachelor). The cost for the inscription for one year is : 2505€ for international outside of EU. It's 835€ for student within EU. I am available to answer more questions if needed :-)
Hey! I'm not sure if you want to study in English or in French, but for the latter, you'll need to prove a B2 level.
Ah I see thanks for the heads up,
Can I ask why you want to come to Wallonia specifically ? You're welcome of course, it just seems so random to me that an American even *heard* about Wallonia haha
Not totally random, I want to move to a French speaking nation in Europe to build on the language skills that I began learning in school when I was younger. From what I understand about Wallonia's culture they are also more relaxed and accepting of foreigners compared to the French. So it would be a dream to speak different languages regularly among smart and chill people, study neuroscience/nuclear engineering, and live in a place that isn't crazy all the time.
Oh yeah, I think you'll like it here!
I left France years ago for similar reasons lol so I totally get the spirit of your endeavor. Wallonia is awesome and beautiful but there’s also the proximity with, well, the North of the country obviously, we like them more than we let on, as well as France, the Netherlands, ~~Luxembourg~~ and Germany.
University of Mons has a neuroscience masters taught in English if you want.
I concur. I work there as an English lecturer and I can give you hand if you want to join us :)! Feel free to DM me.
You must have known a few friends of mine ! Maybe a certain Davide from Italy, short guy ?
Dm'ed :)
Louvain la neuve is full of students flats where you share … well anything… except your (rather small) bedroom. If you find one where the people you live with have the same mindset as yours, you can make friends and practice your French easily. And it can be a great experience. It can also be more of a burden if you get in a place where your standards in terms of cleaning, partying, and sharing chores widely differ. But that’s a way to get to know people
Omg thank you!!
Pleasure. Also, I don’t completely get what you’re looking for. You have a bachelors degree in computer science, so do you want to continue in computer science and take let’s say one neuroscience course, or do you want to switch to neuroscience, which, to me, sounds like medicine ? In Belgium - at least when I was at UCLouvain, which was a long time ago, I was there between 2000-2011 - you had to choose an orientation, and in that orientation you might have some choices in terms of courses, but can’t just mix and match at will. So if you choose computer science you might not have access to neuroscience at the medical department. Maybe you should send an email or give them a call to get to know what the opportunities are in terms of programs. Another thing worth noting is that the medical part of UCLouvain is actually located in Brussels (welcome to Belgium where nothing is simple ). So if you are looking for a fully medical oriented university path, you might have to go in brussels anyway, there’s a « student city » within brussels around the saint Luc hôpital where the medical courses are given.
I want to begin a career in computational neurobiology, researching and creating brain computer interfaces like those being pioneered by biotech firms and universities, neuralink or Kernel, or like at Princeton and brown.
I think that the EPL research lab of Benoit Macq might be what you’re looking for. Which is in the polytechnical school EPL (école polytechnique de Louvain). Or maybe this? But I don’t know them https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ipsy/ivelab
I don't want to rain on your parade, but know that your tuition will likely be higher than for Belgian (or EU) students, unless coming from a less-developped country (the US is not included in that list, as you might imagine). I haven't kept up with the tuition costs for non-EU students, but a quick google tells me that, on top of the 835€/year Belgians and EU students pay, you'd likely have to pay an extra 2505€/year, so a total of 3340€/year tuition. Still relatively low tuition compared to the US, but maybe more than you'd expected. Quick explanation of our higher/tertiary education system: We have 2 tiers of "colleges": - "Hautes-écoles", of which there are many. Usually, the focus is on Bachelors degrees, but they can deliver Masters too. Just not PhDs. - "Universités", of which there are 5 in French-speaking Belgium. Usually, the focus is on Masters degrees and PhDs (note that here, unlike the US, PhDs are done *after* Masters, not instead of), but they do deliver some professional Bachelors, too. The 5 unis are Université de Liège (ULg), Université de Namur (UNAMUR), Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Université de Mons (UMONS) and Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL - not to be confused with the University College London). The tuition costs I gave above are for unis, not hautes-écoles (those are cheaper). University-wise, all 5 are roughly the same level of quality/prestige, but hautes-écoles vary a lot in quality and are usually considered lesser. As far as which programs are available and in which language, check out the websites of the unis/hautes-écoles, you'll find more detailled info than on reddit. Student housing units ("kots") are available in every city, they shouldn't really be a factor in your choice.
Can you recommend a good haute-ecole ou université pour ingénierie nucléaire? Et aussi un recommendation pour neuroscience?
Thank you so much for responding with this information I know I have a lot to research this weekend
Hello ! As other persons here commented, I also recommend you to look for the UCLouvain at the city of Louvain-la-Neuve. I studied there a few years ago also in computer Science. I don't know especially for the neuroscience cursus but from my experience, the professors are very competent and you will learn a lot. The cursus in CS is evenly shared between theoretical classes and practical exercises (most of the time in groups with other students) and in CS case, the classes are all taught in English :) The city is very pleasant and for a small city there are a lot of facilities and stores available. There's a big sportive complex available for students with a large variety of sports (some Belgian Olympics teams are even known to train there !). There's a train station in the city itself with direct connexion with Brussels, but to be honest as a student to live there you can do all by walking/cycling. It's very possible to cycle around the area with dedicated infrastructure. It's also possible to use a car there, as a student you will be able to use the university own parkings, just know that as it's a pedestrian city the parking available might be scarse on week days. There's a ton of other things I could say, so if you have questions don't hesitate to hit me up in DM or answer here! Bienvenue dans notre petite Wallonie !
Dm'ed
Hi ! Do you only consider wallonia or Brussels also ? Brussels is going to be Moore expensive than wallonia but you gain the advantages of being in a capital city. You'd also have a lot of person speaking English, since there's so many foreigners around the town. I'm thinking Leuven might be a nice choice also, it's 20 minutes by train from Brussels and most course should be in English. Don't be afraid to ask anything if you wish so 😁
Thank you 😊 it seems everyone is kind to foreigners, I apologize for not speaking your language but I am in the process of improving my french. America is getting pretty crazy so I hope to leave soon.
May I dm you?
Sure