NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

Candidates for higher education who do not satisfy these conditions can still be awarded the DAES by a jury of the
French-speaking Community (foreign nationals seeking to study in Belgium are often required to pass through this
channel).
(b) For candidates who do not satisfy the normal conditions for access to higher education, the principle of admission
examinations is now of general application (the programme was determined by the decree of 29 May 1996).
(c) As regards access to the second cycle, although the now long-planned system of bridges between various types of
education is not yet in place, universities can enrol students who have not completed their candidat (first two years of
university) on the basis of professional experience or personal abilities.
(d) There are two possibilities open to students seeking to spread one year of study over an extended period, subject to the
conditions laid down by the university authorities:
general case: one year of study spread over several years;
special case: one year of study spread over two years for a student who enrols for the first time and decides to
change course during the year or concludes that he or she will not be able to pass the first year all at once.
(e) Although universities have more scope for refusing to enrol a student, insofar as the provisions concerning university
financing have become more restrictive (see below, on the subject of the Hautes écoles), students also have a means of
appeal.
(3) Simplifying measures
(a) As already pointed out, there are no longer legal degrees and scientific degrees but simply academic degrees, thereby
eliminating the differences in terms of professional consequences which the former distinction could create.
(b) As we have also seen, university studies cover 22 areas, divided into three sectors (human and social sciences, sciences,
health sciences) leading to the basic diplomas according to the list determined by the decree of 20 March 1996. There are
114 designations (including both first and second-cycle diplomas).
The most radical simplification is in the terminology concerning other diplomas which must now all include the generic
indication of the category of studies concerned:
additional study diploma in...
specialised study diplomas in... and advanced study diploma in... for third-cycle courses preparing either for
specialisation (DES) or research (DEA).
II — Decree of 5 August 1995 determining the general organisation of higher education in the Hautes écoles
This new decree, which entered into force in September 1996, largely replaces the law of 7 July 1970 on the general structure
of higher education.
It reorganises higher education into the Hautes écoles, in the interests of rationalisation.
Not only has the system of study in non-university education been profoundly modified, but the institutional infrastructure
also. A total of 107 higher education establishments offering long-type or short-type courses are to be regrouped, according to
the provisions of the decree, into 30 Hautes écoles. In principle, although in practice this is not always the case, they offer
long or short courses of higher education in several categories.