At UCLouvain the studies are organised in two cycles: bachelor and master.
- A bachelor programme leads to the bachelor diploma for the first study cycle and to the title of Bachelor. It comprises 180 credits, spread over three years of studies.The Faculty of sciences offers six bachelor programmes organised by discipline (chemistry, biology, geography, mathematics and physics).
- A master worth 120 credits, usually spread over two years of studies, includes the writing of a thesis and constitutes the development of the specialisation. This can take the form of three different orientations, depending on whether the future " master " aims to teach (didactics orientation) , do research (in-depth studies orientation), or carry out a profession (specialisation orientation).
Choosing your courses and other learning activities must be done in close consultation with your academic tutor at the home university. Whether you are looking for equivalent or complementary courses, the overall objective should be the coherence of the study period at UCLouvain with the degree program at your home university.
All the courses available at the Faculty of sciences at UCLouvain are published on the website. Both the individual course descriptions as well as the details on Bachelor and Master degrees are available in French and English.
You can make your choice of program using the UCLouvain search engine.
However, you should pay careful attention to certain practical points listed in the course description, such as the year(s), the semester(s) and the language of instruction. Three master programs of the Faculty of sciences are fully thaught in English: the Master in Chemistry, the Master in Biochemistry and Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Master in Physics. The courses offered in English within the programs of Geography and Climatology are listed here.
According to the ECTS system, a normal workload of one academic year is 60 ECTS and of one semestre is 30 ECTS. Although it is up to the home university to determine the exact number of credits you are required to earn, the Faculty of sciences expects you to have a workload comparable to the one you would be required to take on at your home institution.
The student has to sit examens for those subjects for which he or she has not yet obtained a satisfactory result or for which he or she has not yet taken the exam. Each exam however can only be presented twice during the year.
Student are strongly advised to attend courses from the very beginning of term, in order to increase their chances of passing their exams at UCLouvain.
At the end of your stay a Transcript of records will be sent to the departmental coordinator of your home institution. This document is exclusively for academic recognition of courses taken at UCLouvain by the home university.