Living in Belgium

Welcome in Belgium

Flanders is a little pocket of easy-to-reach towns and cities, teeming with history and atmosphere. Wherever you wander, you will find sidewalks cafés (serving the world’s strongest beers), bustling markets, gourmet restaurants and great shopping. In the capital, Brussels, you will notice many contrasts. Brussels is a place rich in art and architecture that invites you to sample its local specialities and enjoy its friendly atmosphere!

European cities nearby

As public transport in Flanders makes moving around quick, safe and easy, you have the freedom to visit and experience student life in Belgium to the fullest. And if you’re thinking of exploring the rest of Europe while you’re here, you will be delighted to find cities like London, Paris, Cologne and Amsterdam are all within a 300-km radius and easy to reach by high-speed train or cheap air travel.

Hungry! Thirsty!

A hard-working student is a hungry student – and a thirsty one! Living in Flanders isn’t always cheap but we’ve come up with a solution: each campus has its very own student restaurant where you can buy a hot lunch, snacks, salads, soup, sandwiches etc. at reasonable prices.

Sports@Odisee

Do you need to get some exercise?! STUVO, our student services, will give a nudge you in the right direction, from sports clubs offering discounts if you have a student sports card, vouchers, sports activities to competition dates, etc. Every term, STUVO organises a number of sports activities like boxing, skiing, spinning and table tennis for free or at a very reasonable rate. If you’re a student, you can register with the STUVO’s sports coordinator.

Accommodation

Student rooms on our campuses: our housing departments (STUVO) on the various campuses can help you find the right housing solution for you. You can rent a student room through our student services on our campuses in Aalst, Ghent and Sint-Niklaas. We don’t have any student rooms on our campuses in Brussels, but you can look for a student room on the private market. The price of a student room on our campuses in Aalst, Ghent and Sint-Niklaas varies between € 300 & € 500 a month.

Student rooms on the private market: the number of student rooms for a short-term stay on the private market in Ghent and Brussels is very limited, so it is important to start looking in good time. You’ll find some links that can help you find a good student room below.

Brussels: Brik / Brukot

Ghent: Alle koten / I Kot / Kot.Gent

Culture@Odisee

STUVO and Odisee organise several cultural events during term time. Stay posted.

Preparatory Dutch course

We offer a Dutch course for Erasmus students enrolled at the campus in Ghent organised by an affiliated language centre in Ghent. It is an intensive, 60-hour course for beginners, taught over 10 weeks of evening classes (6 hours per week).

The number of ECTS credits for the course is 3, on condition you (the student) have attended at least 80% of the classes and pass the test at the end of the course.

Odisee’s International Relations Department will pay the € 48 tuition fee, so you only have to pay +/- € 20 for the syllabus and handouts.

If you want to sign up for the Dutch course, please drop a line to our International Relations Department at incoming.exchange@odisee.be when you submit your enrolment documents.