WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT LEUVEN

The International Student Barometer is an online survey that international and European students throughout participating institutions across the sector are invited to complete. The ISB has been adopted by over 160 institutions in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, continental Europe (among which Belgium) and the USA. It claims to be by now the largest study of international students in the world with feedback from over 250,000 students in the last two years.

The ISB takes the pulse at two significant points in the academic year: Post-arrival and Year end. These results can be analysed individually and in comparison, to help the institutions in improving their international framework and support. The ISB, which is a registered trademark by the way, is a service from the International Graduate Insight Group (i-graduate), an independent benchmarking and consultancy service, working to enable positive change in the education sector. They also perform market research and government surveys.

Let’s turn our attention to the results of the survey concerning Leuven and its ancient university, as they were presented in February. Starting with the positive remarks, we noticed above all the positive reputation amongst international students of the K.U.Leuven as a traditional university with quality research and education. This was always one of the top reason to come to Leuven. The city itself also scored high with the general feeling of security and low crime rate, which can be traced back to the work of the Leuven police and the constant presence of people – students – in the streets, even in the darkest of night. Because of the maximal intertwining of the university and the city, Leuven is also perceived as a very young, active and living community, which also attracts students. Another positive aspect of coming to Leuven is apparently its proximity to the capitals of Europe. With Brussels next door and Paris, London and Berlin just around the so-called corner, Leuven seems an ideal starting point for the exploration of Europe.

Naturally, there were also some negative remarks and results that drew our attention. One of the most urgent and practical complain seems to be the registration of international students in city hall, together with the acquisition of a bank account in Belgium. Since you need an evidence of your registration in Leuven to open an account with a Belgian bank but at the same time need proof of financial backing to get registered in city hall, this evidently can lead to quite some problems. There are some temporary solutions available at the International Office, but these seem not to suffice. Next practical remark was the lack of computer facilities in the university. There are the pc-rooms which would seem sufficient, but they close at night and during weekends, which appears strange to people coming from nations with computer rooms open all night.

Students are also asking for more career advice and information which is useful to enter the job market. Many faculties and student organisations offer job fairs, but these are not aimed at international students and often not even in English. Another work-related item was the question for more student jobs available for international students, to cope with the expensiveness of Leuven life. It’s not evident to get a job in the private sector as a foreigner and university jobs are still too often only in Dutch. The main complaint we will remember however, is once again the lack of integration. Students still are unsatisfies with the little contact they have with local Belgian students. There are many causes for this problem – some based on the nature of people, some more practical – but the important fact to be noted is that all the efforts that have been made during the last years to eliminate this problem are still not enough and we need to increase and improve our actions and initiatives, and continue the supports of bottom-up initiatives from both local and international students to get to know each other. |