How to enroll if LSM is your HOST university?

The step-by-step detailed procedure is explained in an email which is sent to you by the Double Degree Officer around end of March.

Important deadlines to complete the UCLouvain mandatory online admission procedure and to upload all required documents:

• March 31 for non-EU citizen
• September 13 for EU citizen
• September 15 for any nationality living in Belgium

Obtain a student visa (for non-EU citizens):

Non-European citizens need a student visa to enter Belgium. The student visa is compulsory to finalize your registration at UCLouvain once you arrive. Please check the procedures with the nearest Belgian Embassy or Consulate in your country.

Please note that if the UCLouvain Central Administration Office does not receive your complete registration file in due time, you will receive your UCLouvain acceptance letter late and could then have problems obtaining your visa, if needed. Please be sure to respect the procedure and the deadline mentioned above as well!
The UCLouvain “Autorisation d’inscription”, sent by post, is the official proof that you are accepted at UCLouvain. You will need it to obtain your visa and to be able to officially register at the university upon your arrival. Do not forget it at home!

The best way to participate in student life is to live on the campus itself. Indeed, Louvain-la-Neuve is an unusual pedestrian campus with more than 15 000 students and over 20 000 residents.

The university has a limited number of accommodations on the Louvain-la-Neuve campus, however, the Service des logements (accommodation service) exceptionally accepts pre-book university accommodations for selected Double degree incoming students coming for the entire academic year at Louvain-la-Neuve.

Concretely, you have, for the ease of colleagues managing the accommodation, to fill in an online form (as of March) (please choose “Students” > “International Students” > click on the green button “Request Accommodation-online form)
Note that:
. You can ask for a Room in a shared flat (10-month contract) OR a studio/flat (12-month contract, including July and August with no possibility of changing the contract)
. The accommodation will be available a few days before the start of the academic year.

By plane :

You will land in Brussels Airport (Zaventem) or in Brussels South Charleroi Airport.
Note that the trip, both from Zaventem Airport or Charleroi Airport to Louvain-la-Neuve, will take 1 hour approximately.

By train :

SNCB/NMBS is the National Railway Company of Belgium.
Louvain-la-Neuve is easily accessible by train and its train station "Louvain-la-Neuve-Université" (not Leuven !!)  is located in the very center of the town. From Brussels, you can get to Louvain-la-Neuve in about 40 minutes.
- From any Belgian station, take the train towards Ottignies, a station situated on the Brussels-Ottignies-Namur-Luxembourg line (trains every half hour in both directions). Get off at Ottignies station and change trains to continue to Louvain-la-Neuve-Université (about 8 min.).
- Some trains go straight from Brussels to Louvain-la-Neuve but take more time because they stop at all stations.

>> Timetables
>> Tickets
>> Passes, cards,...

By bus:

TEC is the company responsible for the Wallonia network and offers therefore an extensive bus service throughout Wallonia and towards and from Brussels. TEC buses join Louvain-la-Neuve with Bruxelles, Ottignies, Wavre, and some other surroundings.
The bus station in Louvain-la-Neuve is located in the town center.

>> Timetables

By car :

Take the highway E411 Brussels-Namur. Exit 8A is the one for Louvain-la-Neuve (not to be confused with Louvain, the French translation of Leuven, located in Flanders).
Louvain-la-Neuve is a pedestrian town, therefore cars are not allowed inside the town. > LLN Car Parks

You have booked in advance a room/flat through the University Housing Service:

• Signing the lease contract
  Upon arrival at Louvain-la-Neuve, you have to go to Contract Management of “UCLouvain Logements” in order to sign the lease contract as well as to pay the first monthly rent, deposit a security warranty, and to pay a small amount for administrative costs.
• Getting the keys + inventory
  You can get the keys of your room/flat at the local office of the Accommodation Office in the neighborhood where your accommodation is located. To do so, you will have to present yourself personally and bring along your lease contract as well as your ID card or passport.

You have booked in advance a room/flat through a rental agency or a private owner: Please directly contact them in order to sign an official lease contract.

Note that if you stay in another town, you will have to go to the city hall of that town.

To register at the commune located Voie des Hennuyers, 1 at Louvain-la-Neuve, you need the following documents: (Make sure you have those when you get there) :

• your signed housing contract
• the original version of your UCLouvain “Autorisation d’inscription”
• your UCLouvain registration document
• the study certificate issued by UCLouvain
• your passport or ID card (+ visa for Non-European citizens only)
• 3 passport-size color photos (facial recognition; white background; identical)
• the proof of membership in a health insurance scheme
• the grant confirmation or undertaking to assume financial responsibility (proof of a fellowship or financial statement - “annex 32” asked by the Belgian Embassy) – (for Non-European citizens only)
• marriage certificate (for married students coming with their spouse)

The academic year at LSM is composed of two terms and each term is split into two parts (Part 1 & Part 2) :

• Fall term 2024 "Q1" going from September 16th to December 21th (with exam session from 6th to 25th of January 2025)
  • Part 1: the first 8 weeks of the term (incl. the mandatory Discovery week starting on September 16th and the assessment week at the end of the Part 1)
  • Part 2: the last 6 weeks of the term
• Spring term 2025 "Q2" going from February 3rd to May 17th (with exam session from June 2th to 28th, 2025)
  • Part 1: the first 7 weeks of the term (incl. an assessment week)
  • Part 2: the last 8 weeks of the term 

A third term for eventual resit exams going from August 16th to September 5th, 2025.

Course workload for Double Degree students - in order to get the LSM degree

Please note that the following explanations do not take the requirements of your home university into account. We strongly invite you to check their minimum requirements in order to get their degree.

At LSM, you will get the Master 120 credits in Management or the Master 120 credits in Business Engineering depending on your academic background and the agreement with the Partner university.

In order to get your LSM Master's degree, you must earn at least 120 credits including :

• 20 credits of Master's thesis
• 5 credits of Seminars
• 30 credits of LSM focus courses or equivalent (We will recognize 20-25 credits done at your home university)
• 25 credits of LSM Major
• 40 credits of master courses (i.e. Majors, elective courses, core courses) (We will recognize between 40 and 60 credits done at your home university)

The DD Master's thesis: To obtain the 2 Master's degrees, you are required to write one Master's thesis. You will have to find a supervisor from one of the two universities of your double degree. his professor will supervise, and guide the student throughout the realisation of the Master's thesis and will be present at the oral defense. In addition, a reader from a university other than the supervisor’s will be assigned. The role of the reader is to read the final work, be present at the oral defense as a member of the jury, and therefore be an evaluator of the work.
The Master's thesis has to be written in English (or in Dutch for those who are doing the Master's degree in Dutch at KU Leuven). In relation to the master thesis itself, you will have to follow the requirements of the university of your supervisor (on content, methodology...). An oral defense is compulsory (for your LSM degree, even if the partner university does not organize one), and must be done, usually by videoconference (e.g. skype), in the presence of the 2 professors (supervisor and reader).

LSM Pedagogical system: The teaching system at LSM includes a large amount of group work. The group work generally has an impact on your final grade but usually, you have an additional final exam. While planning your courses consider that group work takes quite a lot of time. Sometimes it is mentioned in the course description if there will be group work. Please note that the groups are formed the first week of each semester!

Lecture notes: You can find your lecture notes either on the UCLouvain intranet (through Moodle) and/or in the DUC (Grand’rue)
The DUC is a place where you can find handouts for most of the courses. Normally you are told during the 1st lecture, whether or not there is a “Syllabus” (a syllabus is a handout) or other materials for the class and where to find them.

Moodle: Moodle is an online platform used by professors to organise courses, communicate information, and share documents,… and used by students to form groups, upload work, and make an appointment,... 

Libraries: Several libraries are at your disposal. The Library of Economic and Social Sciences, including LSM, is the BSPO, located at "Place Montesquieu" in front of the LSM building. The Library of Psychology is located “At Place du Cardinal Mercier”.
To enter any library, you will need your access card received upon arrival after the UCLouvain registration is completed.  This card also allows you to rent books for free and gives you access to every UCLouvain library.

Some books and magazines cannot be rented and must be read in the library (you can make copies). To do so you will need a copy card which you must buy at the reception desk in the library.

Improving Language (i.e. French,...): French courses, at ILV (Institut des Langues Vivantes, the UCLouvain language school), can be followed free of charge during the semesters at LSM IF it is included in your study programme (which means you must successfully pass them and they will be taken into account for your grade average).
Another way to improve a language is Tandem language learning

Student Card
This card enables you to register at the sports center and to get discounts at the cinema, shops, and travel expenses if you are under 26 years old (train, etc.).

Access Card - Smartcard (Carte d’accès)
This card enables you to enter the LSM building, UCLouvain computer rooms (after 8:00 pm), and libraries.

UCLouvain virtual office (My UCL)
Every student registered at UCLouvain gets a "virtual desk" (like an intranet) on the UCLouvain website. This "desk" gives you free access to a range of services and to the data banks to which UCLouvain subscribes, including remote access.
The purpose of the "virtual desk" is to offer you a range of personalised services.
It will enable you to enroll in courses, register for exams, access your mailbox @student.uclouvain.be, access Moodle (the electronic platform for courses and communication with teaching staff), access electronic libraries, etc.

UCLouvain student email address
Please consult it on a regular basis, as all information will be sent to you that way; for example information about courses, and registration to exams….

Louvain-la-Neuve is a pedestrian town; access to the town center is forbidden to motorised vehicles.
In Louvain-la-Neuve, everything is at your fingertips. You can walk far from the stress of circulation and from traffic congestion. You are never more than 10 minutes away from your classroom, the shopping center, or the sports center.
The Faculties, Institutes, Technology Platforms, and Administrative Services are mainly situated in the city centre and in the neighborhoods (named Biéreau or Hocaille).

One year living costs at UCLouvain

Sport Center

The LLN "Centre Sportif" offers 60 sports activities. It is located in the “Hocaille” quarter, where the swimming pool is located as well. It is about a 10-minute walk from the Louvain-la-Neuve town center.
During the first weeks of the semester entrance is normally free to try any sport type so everyone can go there and test the offers.
If that time is over you need to go to the "center sportif" office to buy the sports card, 50€ for the whole year. This card is a replacement for your normal student card, so don’t worry if they take your “old” one.  
With that card you have access to all sports and to the swimming pool at the displayed times on the sports programme.  Some sports require extra insurance charges (such as the football mondialito : 5 €).

Culture at LLN

• Cinema
• Theater
• Aula Magna
• Concerts
• Museum
• Hergé Museum - Tintin
• Other cultural exhibitions

Students Associations

• ESN Louvain-la-Neuve (International Exchange Erasmus Student Network)
• AIESEC Louvain-la-Neuve
• CEMS Club Belgium
• LSM Conseil
• Club LSM

Belgium

• Discover Belgium
• Visit Brussels and Wallonia / Tourist Attractions and Museums - Brussels and Wallonia
• Visit Flanders