Every year, many foreign students come to study at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts at Hasselt University. Some come for just a semester or a year, others for a particular Master's degree. All of them enjoy a lively and enriching experience in a small city in Flanders.
Here you'll find testimonials with former students, as well as the main information about studying at our university, in parallel with a host of links and pointers to make it easier for you to find information and get settled in.
Will you be joining us soon?
There are different ways to study or train yourself at our faculty.
Architecture and interior architecture students can study at the Faculty of Architecture and Arts for one or two semesters.
This is possible during the third year of the Bachelor's degree and/or during the first year of the Master's degree (fourth year of studies).
During one year, you can follow an international master's program in (interior) architecture with the focus on adaptive reuse.
The program is ideally positioned in a region full of historical sites with various identities.
The Building Beyond Borders postgraduate certificate is a bi-annual learn-and-act program for graduates and professionals who want to become a change-maker in the built environment.
The program includes a series of theoretical sessions, lectures, workshops, hands-on experiments and design explorations.
ArcK is the research group of the Faculty of Architecture and Arts that focuses on research in architecture and interior architecture. We conduct fundamental and applied research on the built environment. We welcome interns in this research group.
MAD-research is structured and driven by four research domains that develop their operation in collaboration with the Faculty of Architecture and Arts of UHasselt and PXL-MAD School of Arts
You’d think the constant threat of rain would deter people from using bikes, but not here. Determined to embrace the local lifestyle, I started biking everywhere. The challenge? Wind and rain don’t care if you’re trying to get to a place on time. So I arrived exhausted and only marginally convinced I was cut out for Belgian life. And let’s not forget the days when the weather changes its mind four times in an hour...
Belgian weather may have tested my patience, but it has also taught me resilience. These little struggles have turned into funny stories I’ll take with me long after I leave Hasselt. And who knows? Maybe someday, I’ll even miss the unpredictability.
If my Erasmus was a song it would certainly be "La strada" by the Modena City Ramblers: a journey full of uncertainties, but above all of discoveries and growth. At first, leaving home, friends and dealing with a language I didn’t know seemed like an impossible challenge, but every step brought me closer to a better version of myself.
Hasselt, with its central location, allowed me to explore Belgium and other nearby places, learning about different cultures and enriching myself with stories and encounters. This experience was a profound journey, which transformed me. Now I come back with a treasure of emotions and memories that I never imagined to find.
My Erasmus in Belgium would be a blue intense. A colour that encapsulates both the call of quiet salis between Brussels and Hasselt, and the strength of the initial challenges in adapting to a different
culture. Blue is the color of reflection, of the moments when I stopped to think, but also of the growth that has come with time. It’s the distance that turns into deep connection. A blue that reminds me of the beauty of every discovery, big and small.
Since I moved here; city itself, the locals, professors and of course my classmates have created such an atmosphere that I feel so safe in every aspect. Wherever the place is, I can stroll around comfortably.
Whoever I need their help, people are so kind and friendly. Whichever subject I'd like to ask and/or discuss; professors are present and passionate to talk. And last but not the least; whatever time it is, I can always find a friend to spend time together!
For me the most important emotion out of all is appreciation. The environment here is very different from everything that I’m used to, but I am really grateful for everything I get to experience here, starting from the very welcoming people and town to the ability to travel and participate in the academic life of the faculty.
Hasselt is a town where you feel good, where you come across discovery around every corner. This town on a human scale is very pleasant. The university is always a very interesting place to
exchange ideas and meet friends.
I believe the most important feeling for me during this experience is eagerness to get to know new places and people. It's a great opportunity to grow in every possible way. As well as socially but also academically. Just learning that every person can have a completely different view of life.
It's the feeling I feel every day when I ride my bike to university. It's also the feeling that I've had of meeting other international Erasmus and Belgian students. Hasselt is a really pretty little town where life is peaceful.
I can only recommend this destination, where the welcome, unlike the climate, is very warm!
That’s the feeling I was experiencing every day while coming back from university on my bike, next to the steam. Since the first day I realised that six months would have been slow when things would have been difficult, and at the same will be extremely fast when things would have been be nice. That peace, that silence, was creating in me the idea of wanting to go home, and at the same time of not wanting to, in order to don’t leave the people I met.
The city itself is small and there is almost nothing to do; maybe this is the reason for which people become more important than usual. Probably in the end I would not recommend the destination, but just the experience.