On Friday 10 February 2023, the VUB International Relations office organised an information session to welcome over 100 new international students and trainees who arrived at the VUB to start the 2nd semester through their exchange programmes.

The VUB International Relations office information session included presentations from different student bodies such as the International Student Platform (ISP) and ESN VUB EhB Brussels.

Just before the information session took place, the incoming students could already meet each by taking part in the traditional campus tour of the Etterbeek campus. Each participating student was welcomed with a small gift.

This year’s exchange students arriving at VUB for the 2nd semester come from 32 different countries, inside and outside Europe: Turkey, France, Sweden, Italy, Slovakia, Morocco, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Spain, Mexico, Chile, China, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Brazil, Poland, Armenia, Czech Republic, Ireland, Finland, Republic of Korea, India, Greece, Belgium, Ecuador, Japan, Portugal, Belarus, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon. In addition, there are those coming for traineeships from Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania and Turkey. 

More than 50% of them are studying at the Faculty of Social Sciences & Solvay Business School. The next biggest draw is the Faculty of Sciences, followed by the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Languages and Humanities.

The trainees are predominantly for the Faculty of Medicine & Pharmacy at the UZ Brussel, followed by the Faculty of Physical Education & Physiotherapy, the Faculty of Engineering, and the Faculty of Sciences.

We want to welcome them all to Brussels and the VUB, we wish them all the best, and we hope that they will enjoy their studies/traineeship in Belgium.