Belgium U

This week I had the pleasure of exploring higher education in Belgium. Each class at my school took a trip to sit in on a University class and have a brief tour of the campus. 6B (my class) went to University of Louvain-la-Neuve. It is located about an hour and a half from Verviers it is is a rather small institution.

In Belgium, and I am sure other places, there are two types of higher education. The first is the University. Students enrolled in this form can expect to have four to five years of school with many many courses, but the only exams being the finals. The other type is called "Haut École" translated to High School. These colleges are two to three years and while the work is considered "less difficult" there is a lot more of it. If I correctly understood the conversation, the Haut Écoles have more busy work, and therefore are very time consuming. Both forms of college are acceptable. There is a lot less variety of Universities in the United States however I do not think that this is solely because of the size of the country. In approximately the same distance as Belgium, there is a grand difference between the styles of colleges in Pennsylvania. Juniata College, Penn State, and Lycoming College are vastly different for many reasons. In Belgium there is much less variety and even fewer options for areas of study.

One of the most popular fields of study is medicine. A surprisingly large portion of my class wishes to pursue careers in the medical field. I found this surprising because, from my limited knowledge of this area in the United States, it is highly difficult and highly competitive. While there are American students who wish to follow this path, I would think that the most popular career choice for American students is engineering or education. Perhaps it is a pursuit of monetary gain for these students, or perhaps it is a desire to help the people of the world. One of the contributing factors to this decision is the course work in schools. There are many language science and math classes, and fewer liberal arts classes, or at least a lesser emphasis on them. For example, a student can choose to have four or six hours of science a week and they can also choose between having math four or six hours. However french class is a mandatory four hours. No more, no less.

Another big difference between the Universities of Belgium and those of the United States is the cost of course. Although school is not free in Belgium, it costs generally between three and five thousand dollars for attendance. Quite a difference from Bucknell University whose tuition alone is 90 thousand. Perhaps this is one of the contributing factors to the sparse use of technology. While sitting in on a Theology class, the professor used the chalkboard and read from a lecture of handwritten notes. The contrary would be the use of Powerpoints and typed handouts.

Overall, I found it to be a very enriching experience and one that confirmed my decision to continue and participate in the higher education system in the United States, despite the higher cost because there are more options for students to choose the kind of learning they would like to participate in. In addition, I think that there is a different work ethic at the universities in America, one that I find works better for myself. I am very glad that I got to experience this day.