Brussels Polytechnic School – EPB A well-renowned training course to reflect proven global standing

Capitalising on Brussels’ status as an international capital, the Brussels Polytechnic School (EPB) has a great many assets at its disposal: resolutely practical training, a multitude of specialisations, customised support and a strong international commitment which makes it particularly attractive.

Students at the EPB are spoilt for choice when they want to develop their skills outside of Belgium. They have two mobility options to choose from. The first is the substitution programme: this allows them to attend lectures, take exams or undertake a research internship in exchange for credits for their ULB diploma. This programme is in place for Europe (Erasmus+) but also the US, Quebec, China, Japan etc. In addition, PhD students are eligible for mobility through the Erasmus Mundus programme (IT4BI – Information technology for business intelligence, Smart cities & smart grids for sustainable development etc.) and a large number of joint supervision initiatives with foreign institutions.

The second possibility is even more tempting: the double degree. This involves a stay abroad ranging from one and a half to two years. In this case, the two partner institutions recognise the courses taken by the student and the student receives two degrees. This formula has already been on offer for 30 years within the framework of the T.I.M.E. (Top International Managers in Engineering) association of which the ULB is a founder member, alongside 56 engineering Schools and Universities. The EPB has concluded 12 agreements with its T.I.M.E. partners and two additional agreements, including one with the Paris Polytechnic Institute. Other agreements are in the pipeline with the complete network of Centrale Schools in France and several engineering institutes in India after the EPB joined the Heritage network in early 2019. There are similar prospects with the CIVIS network: selected by the European Commission, this initiative includes two institutions that offer engineering studies: La Sapienza (Rome) and Aix-Marseille University.

For their part, foreign students who want to complete their education at the EPB are just as well off. Bilateral agreements allow them to take a double degree, follow a substitution programme or undertake an internship. The icing on the cake is that all Masters courses on offer are taught in English, which makes them especially attractive. Five of them are offered jointly with the VUB (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) within the framework of the Bruface programme. © EPB

The EPB is also highly active in the area of development cooperation, for which a dedicated unit has been set up, and which takes the form of dissertations, internships and first-year projects such as for the development of a kiln for pepper in Cambodia within the framework of an ARES programme. The aim is to combine awareness-raising and stays abroad so as to get across the works of a large number of professors involved in various research programmes.

For the time being, the EPB is putting its weight behind the development of its double degree offer, which is especially useful for students: the experience abroad is longer and integration is better, which means that those with a double degree have a much-sought after profile.

Ecole polytechnique de Bruxelles Campus du Solbosch - CP 165/63 Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 - B-1050 Bruxelles Tel.: +32 (0)2 650 29 02 E-mail: vdoyiepb@ulb.ac.be https://polytech.ulb.be/fr/international