Exchange student guide A practical guide for Exchange Students at Ghent University Universiteit Gent / Ghent University Member Ghent University Association Academic year 2007-2008 Department of Educational Affairs International Relations Office Exchange Student Guide http://www.international.UGent.be Dear exchange student, I am very glad to have the opportunity of welcoming you to Ghent University. Whether you are staying for a short period or a full-year programme as an exchange student, I hope your experience at our University and in the city of Ghent will be both happy and intellectually fulfilling. When you first arrive in Ghent, you may feel that your new environment is going to take some time getting used to. The Exchange Student Guide is intended to help you with that practical process. It gives you basic ‘survival’ information about the subjects listed hereafter. So please read the guide carefully before you leave home and keep it ready at hand after you arrive in Ghent to help ease the strains of settling in. I sincerely believe that you will be fully satisfied with the academic quality of the University, and also with the way of life in Ghent. The university offers a full academic pro- gramme, while the city provides numerous social, cultural and tourist activities. I wish you an exciting and rewarding stay. Should any problems arise in the course of it, please do not hesitate to contact the International Relations Office. Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge Rector Universiteit Gent 2 0 0 7 – 2 0 0 8 Table of Contents 1. Ghent University 7 1.1. History, Past and Present 7 1.2. The Academic Year and the Examinations 8 1.3. The University Levels and Degrees 9 1.4. Faculties 10 1.5. Teaching System, Assessment and Academic Recognition 12 1.6. Exchange programmes at Ghent University 13 . Preparation of your stay 1 2.1. Visa 14 2.1.1. Short Visits (less than three months) 15 2.1.2. Long stay (more than three months) 16 2.2. Administrative Preparation: how to get accepted as an Exchange student at Ghent University? 18 2.3. Academic Preparation 19 2.4. Language Preparation & Requirements 19 2.5. Accommodation 20 2.5.1. Private Housing + Room Swapping System 20 2.5.2. University Student Residences 21 2.5.3. Youth Hostel, Hotels, Bed & Breakfast 23 E X C H A N G E S T U D E N T G U I D E 2.6. Insurance 24 2.6.1. E.E.A. insured and Switzerland 24 2.6.2. Non-E.E.A. insured (except Switzerland) 25 . Arriving in Ghent 7 3.1. Transport 27 3.1.1. How to get to Ghent 27 3.1.2. Transport inside Ghent upon arrival 29 3.2. Registration at Ghent University: Student Registration and Curriculum Office 29 3.3. Registration at the City of Ghent: the Foreigners’ Registration Office 30 3.4. Welcome Days 32 . Student Services & Student life @ UGent 4.1. Student services 33 4.1.1. Libraries 33 4.1.2. Computer & Internet 34 4.1.3. Language Courses 35 4.1.3.1. University Language Centre (UCT) 35 4.1.3.2. EILC 36 4.1.4. Advisory Centre for Students 36 4.1.5. Student Registration and Curriculum Office 36 4.1.6. Health Care 37 4.1.7. Disabled Students 37 4.1.8. Student jobs 38 4.1.9. Student Restaurants 39 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S 4.1.10. Sports 42 4.1.11. Bicycle Rent 43 4.1.12. Social Service and Psychosocial Advice 44 4.1.13. Emergency Centre 45 4.1.14. UGent Boutique 46 4.1.15. International Relations Office 56 4.1.16. Low Countries Studies 47 4.2. Student Life 48 4.2.1. Student Activities and societies 48 4.2.2. Student organisations for foreign students 49 4.2.3. Some other student societies 51 . The City of Ghent 5.1. History of the City of Ghent 53 5.2. Tourism & sightseeing 54 5.3. Public Transport in Ghent 55 5.4. Shopping, Banking, Post Offices, Public Telephones 57 5.5. Climate 59 5.6. Going out 59 5.6.1. Concert halls + theatres 59 5.6.2. Cinemas 61 5.6.3. Museums 61 5.7. Bookshops 62 . Appendices 6.1. Useful Addresses and Web Sites 63 6.2. Faculty Committees on International Affairs (FCI) 64 6.3. List of Consulates and Embassies 69 6.4. List of ‘Ziekenfondsen’ in Ghent 78 E X C H A N G E S T U D E N T G U I D E Ghent University 1.1. History, Past and Present Ghent University was founded in 1817, during the Dutch reign of Prince William of Orange-Nassau (later to become William I of Holland), and thus predates the Belgian nation, as we know it today. On October 9th, 1817, the University’s be- ginnings were modest with only 190 students in 4 faculties: Arts, Law, Medicine and Sciences. The language of instruction was Latin originally, but soon after the Belgian independence (1830), it became French, the language of the intellectual and social elite. In 1882, the first female student registers at Ghent University. After a struggle of almost 100 years, which deeply affected Belgian society, the native language Dutch was finally adopted as an academic language in 1930. This breakdown of the language barrier was an important step in the democrati- sation of university education in Flanders. Ghent was the first Flemish university to teach in the local standard language. In 1991, Ghent University becomes an autonomous institution. Over the years the professorial staff has included a number of eminent figures: the jurists Jean-Jacques Haus, and François Laurent, the physicist Joseph Plateau, the mathematician Paul Mansion, the physiologist and psychiatrist Joseph Guislain, the historians Henri Pirenne and Paul Fredericq, the Germanic scholars Joseph Vercoul- lie and Henri Logeman, and the zoologist and botanist Julius Mac Leod, who was also the spiritual father of the Flemish-speaking Ghent University. G H E N T U N I V E R S I T Y 7 Today, Ghent University provides teaching and carries out scientific research in all main fields of study, spread over 11 faculties and about 140 departments. More than 26.000 students (including 1000 foreign students and 650 exchange students) are taught and supervised by almost 5.450 members of academic and administra- tive staff. Ghent University is one of the largest employers in Flanders. Ghent University is an autonomous and open institution organising public uni- versity education on behalf of the Flemish Community. The University is proud of its reputation of being a competent educational institution, a reputation that it enjoys within as well as outside the Belgian academic community. In the field of research Ghent University has gained considerable international fame. Cornelis Heymans was the only Flemish professor who received the Nobel Prize for medicine; August Kekulé laid the foundations of the modern organic and analytical chemistry; Leo Baekeland gave his name to the synthetic material Bakelite; physicist Joseph Plateau was a pioneer of cinematography. All these celebrities were once professors at Ghent University, which – nowadays – is a keen participant in European and international research programmes. The biotechnologists Van Montagu and Fiers are famous all over the world, while numerous projects in Third World countries are based on research at the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering. 1.. The Academic Year and the Examinations The academic year 007-00 starts on /9/007 and ends on 1/9/00. The courses begin on 24 September and end in May. The study programmes are made up of terms (semester). One term comprises 12 weeks of lectures followed by a two-week study leave and a two-week examination period. The final result is obtained at the end of the second term, on the basis of both the results achieved in the first and the second term. Unsuccessful students can take a second sitting in the second examination period organised in September. This means that every examination can be taken twice a year. If students decide not to take examinations in the first examination period but only in the second, they voluntarily give up their first chance. Examinations are either oral or written. Marks received for practical exercises and the results of written and oral tests during the year may also be taken into account for the final result, as part of a system of permanent evaluation. E X C H A N G E S T U D E N T G U I D E Finally, these are the holiday periods in the academic year 2007-2008: Start 1st semester: 24/9/2007 Winter break: 24/12/2007 – 6/1/2008 Intersemester vacation: 4/2/2008 – 10/2/2008 Start 2nd semester: 11/2/2008 Easter break: 24/3/2008 – 6/4/2008 Summer vacation: 7/7/2008 – 16/8/2008 After-summer break: 15/9/2008 – 20/9/2008 Start Academic Year 2008-2009: 22/9/2008 Other closing days in the academic year 2007-2008: All Saints day: 1/11/2007 + 2/11/2007 Kings Day: 15/11/2007 Dies Natalis: 21/3/2008 Easter Monday: 7/4/2008 Labour Day + Ascension Day: 1/5/2008 + 2/5/2008 Pentecost Monday: 12/5/2008 1.. The University Levels and Degrees A university degree is awarded to a student when he or she has completed a pro- gramme comprising the number of credits (60 credits a year) established by law or by order of the University itself, and when he or she has successfully passed the required examinations.