Fundability conditions
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Please be advised: the information on this page is subject to change.
To enrol, you must not only meet the admission requirements but also be declared fundable in accordance with the decree of 11 April 2014 adapting the funding of higher education establishments to the new organisation of studies (hereinafter: the “funding decree”).
The Enrolment Office is solely competent to determine enrolment fundability.
This determination can only be made on the basis of a complete application file submitted according to the procedures defined by the Enrolment Office, via an enrolment procedure. On the basis of this file, the Enrolment Office informs applicants of its decision.
What requirements must be met to be fundable in September 2024?
A “fundable” student is a student for whom the university receives subsidies from the French Community of Belgium. To be declared fundable, you must meet several requirements.
- Requirements related to the course for which you are applying (Art. 2 of the funding decree). The courses leading to the teaching degree of Agrégé de l'Enseignement Secondaire Supérieur (AESS) or to the Certificat d'Aptitude Pédagogique Approprié à l'Enseignement Supérieur (CAPAES) are subject to specific funding rules.
- Requirements related to nationality (Art. 3 of the funding decree). Thus, to be fundable, you must be a national of a European Union member state or have Belgian student status.
- Requirements related to the student’s academic performance (Art. 5 of the funding decree). These academic requirements are described below.
When you do not or no longer meet one of these requirements, you are not or are no longer fundable. Consequently, your enrolment application may be refused by the university.
As part of the reform of higher education, the rules relating to fundability have recently been modified. From the start of the 2024-25 academic year, all students will be subject to the new fundability rules.
To determine whether you are still fundable, please consult the rules that apply to your situation, that is, either the:
- academic fundability rules, or
- the AESS/CAPAES fundability rules.
Academic fundability rules
Certain student profiles benefit from specific fundability rules, which are described in the following two sections:
If your first full enrolment in your current course (i.e. not so-called “BAMA” enrolments, which are simultaneous enrolments in bachelor’s and master's courses) dates from no later than 2021-22, you are subject to the former system.
If you are in this situation, you are fundable to re-enrol in the same course (no course switching) if you are enrolled and fundable this academic year.
Please note that having obtained an exemption due to non-fundability in 2023-24 does not mean that you were fundable in 2023-24.
If you started your bachelor's course in 2022-23 and have not switched courses since then, you are fundable to re-enrol in the same course (no course switching) if you are enrolled and fundable this academic year and you have earned at least 45 course credits.
If neither of the two profiles above applies to you, you are thus subject to the "classic" funding rules.
The first, the simplest rule of thumb is that if you have successfully completed your entire annual study programme (PAE), you are fundable to continue the same course the following year, regardless of your situation.
If this is not the case, you must respect the fundability benchmarks, that is, you must have met certain requirements within a certain time frame. Note that you must respect all benchmarks that apply to you. If this is your fourth enrolment, you must respect benchmarks for the first, second and fourth enrolments.
Below is a table of the benchmarks. Verify whether you must consider all of your higher education enrolments.
| Course | Academic requirement | Required time frame (at the end of the ...) |
| Bachelor’s | Earned/validated credits of a first-block course unit | 1st enrolment |
| Earned/validated 60 credits of the first block of the course | 2nd enrolment | |
| Earned/validated 120 course credits | 4th enrolment | |
| Earned/validated 180 course credits | 5th enrolment | |
| Master’s | Earned/validated 60 course credits (including additional credits where applicable) (**) |
2nd enrolment |
| Earned/validated 120 course credits | 4th enrolment | |
| Earned/validated 180 course credits | 6th enrolment |
Note that if a course is planned for a certain number of credits, the required time frame for earning/validating that number of credits must be understood as the time required to obtain the diploma. For example, a 60-credit master’s course is planned for a maximum duration of two years.
In addition to these benchmarks, there are different rules, specific to certain profiles:
For example, a student who was enrolled in 2019-20, 2020-21, 2022-23, and 2023-24 translates into only three enrolments.
If you switched courses during your academic career, you will have additional years to reach the benchmarks presented above. If you switched courses:
- after a bachelor's course enrolment, you benefit from an additional year;
- after two or more bachelor's course enrolments, you benefit from two additional year;
- during a master's course, you benefit from an additional year.
If you have additional eligibility requirements/an additional module, depending on the weight of this in your PAE, you benefit from additional years to reach the final benchmark. If your additional module credits total:
- up to 30 credits, you benefit from an additional year;
- between 31 and 60 credits, you benefit from two additional year.
If you enrol in veterinary science, acquire at least 45 credits at the end of the first enrolment, and do not obtain the certificate to continue the rest of the programme, you benefit from an additional year to reach the various benchmarks presented above.
After interrupting your academic career for five consecutive years (no enrolment in a higher education establishment), your fundability is reset to zero.
If you obtained deferrals during your academic career, you will benefit from additional years to achieve the above benchmarks. Each deferral gives you an extra half-year and the total is rounded up. This means that:
- one deferral = one additional year;
- two deferrals = one additional year;
- three deferrals = two additional years;
- four deferrals = two additional years.
If you failed the competitive entrance exam twice following a PASS or LAS in France, you are not fundable to study medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy or pharmacy.
Please read our FAQs!
AESS/CAPAES fundability rules
Special rules apply to the Agrégation de l'Enseignement Secondaire Supérieur (AESS) and Certificat d'Aptitude Pédagogique Approprié à l'Enseignement Supérieur (CAPAES) teacher training courses: in principle, a student's enrolment in one of these courses is only funded (and therefore fundable) once.
However, an exception is made in the case of a deferral of or enrolment in section B of the CAPAES (after enrolment in section A): an application to re-enrol in the programme will be declared fundable provided that the student acquired all the credits of their first-year programme.
Here is a seven-step tool that will help you calculate your fundability (academic only, as the AESS and CAPAES are not included) for the 2024-25 academic year. This is a simplified tool that cannot consider the diversity of students’ academic backgrounds.
After reading the explanations below, you will find a number of examples in this document (there's no English version of it). These will help you make your own calculations. Also, please consult the fundability section of our FAQs.
Before making your calculation, please take careful note of the rules described above and the various examples provided.
1. Did you pass 100% of your preceding student academic programme (PAE)?
- If so, you are fundable to re-enrol in the same course.
- If not, proceed to step 2.
2. Are you a student subject to the « former system »?
If you started your bachelor's or master's course before the 2022-23 academic year, you are subject to the former system (see explanation of rules above).
- If so, you are fundable to re-enrol in the same course.
- If not, proceed to step 3.
3. Did you start your bachelor’s course in 2022-23?
- If so, and if you have not switched courses, you are fundable to re-enrol in the same course if you successfully earn 45 credits of your bachelor's course.
- If not, proceed to step 4.
4. Your academic career
List your years of academic enrolment, putting your first year of enrolment at the bottom. We will analyse which years can be considered for your fundability. Depending on the course (bachelor’s/master’s) for which you wish to calculate your fundability:
- cross out the years that concern the other course;
- cross out the « BAMA15 » years prior to 2023-24 for the bachelor's course;
- cross out the « BAMA30 » years for the master's course;
- cross out the year 2019-20;
- cross out years prior to a five-year interruption;
- cross out years leading to a degree.
5. Your table
In this document (there's no English version of it), you will find several tables. Choose the one that corresponds most to your situation.
6. Did you obtain any deferrals?
- If so, shift the benchmarks accordingly, following the rules set out above.
- If not, proceed to the next step.
7. Final verification
Count your number of remaining (not crossed out) enrolments and the number of credits you have obtained in the programme you wish to enrol in. Then check whether you have reached the benchmarks in your table.
- If so, you are fundable.
- If not, you are not fundable.
Bear in mind that this is a simplified tool. The rules are complex, so don't panic if you get a result of non-fundability.
If you have any questions about your situation, you can contact the Enrolment Office and consult our FAQs on fundability. You can also wait for the Enrolment Office to respond to your re-enrolment application. If you are declared non-fundable, you will receive an email from the Enrolment Office detailing the procedure to follow in order to request a derogation from the faculty.
- Décret "financement": décret du 11 avril 2014 adaptant le financement des établissements d'enseignement supérieur à la nouvelle organisation des études;
- Décret "paysage": décret du 7 novembre 2013 définissant le paysage de l'enseignement supérieur et l'organisation académique des études (en particulier l'article 96);
- Décret "COVID": décret du 2 décembre 2021 modifiant le décret du 7 novembre 2013 définissant le paysage de l'enseignement supérieur et l'organisation académique des études et d'autres législations en matière d'enseignement supérieur;
- Décret amendant le décret "finançabilité": décret du 31 mai 2024 adaptant le financement des établissements d'enseignement supérieur à la nouvelle organisation des études.