Leuven University College quality labels

Leuven University College strives to gradually improve the quality of its programmes. This is evidenced, among others, by the quality labels which our programmes were awarded with during recent years. We will give a brief overview.

AISHE

In 2004, the study programmes of Business Management and Office Management obtained their first AISHE certificate. AISHE (Auditing Instrument for Sustainability in Higher Education) is an instrument based on 20 criteria measuring in which way a study programme has integrated sustainable development.

In 2010, the study programme of Business Management performed another AISHE survey which led to obtaining a 2-star quality label of Sustainable Development in Higher Education.

ECTS

The European Commission has awarded the ECTS label to Leuven University College, thus recognising the efforts which Leuven University College puts forward to increase international mobility of students. Leuven University College is the first university college in Flanders to receive the label. ECTS means European Credit Transfer system which is the standard European system for transferring credits. The ECTS label acknowledges that all study programmes of Leuven University College comply with this European reference system. Leuven University College provides the major study programme-related documents and also the students’ diplomas in Dutch and in English. Leuven University College works hard to ensure that the mobility of incoming and outgoing students is steadily increasing.

This label puts our university college at the same level as a select number of European institutions that comply with the European directives. In 2011, only twelve European institutions were awarded this label. Since 2008, a mere hundred out of the 4,000 institutions overall have received the label. Leuven University College is determined to consolidate its position as a leader in internationalisation at Flemish and European level.

European Social Fund (ESF)

In 2009 Leuven University College obtained the quality label of the European Social Fund. The European Social Fund enables Flanders and Europe to provide grants every year for projects which reinforce the Flemish labour market policies. These projects particularly focus on activating talents, on paying extra attention to underrepresented groups and on ‘entrepreneurship with people’. The grants are provided after a number of ESF criteria have been met. These criteria are all related to sustainable and high-quality management. The ESF model pays particular attention to staff members. For example, ESF assesses whether an organisation has created programmes to provide everyone with equal job opportunities. The quality label can only be awarded after an on-site audit. Once an organisation has obtained the ESF label, it may start applying for project grants.

Network of International Business Schools

In 2008, NIBS (Network of International Business Schools) awards our Business Department the accreditation of International Business School.

Special feature of Internationalisation

On 16 December 2010, the programme of Business Management obtained the special feature of Internationalisation, awarded by the NVAO (Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders) after participating in an internationalisation pilot. This special feature will be submitted to the visitation committee in March 2011. Criteria which will be judged are, among others, the view on internationalisation, experience and commitment of staff, services offered, international experience and mobility of students. The following strong aspects were mentioned in the assessment report:

• ‘The study programme is structured in such a way as to encourage all business management students to pursue international experience’
• ‘The staff is highly committed to implementing the international ambitions’
• ‘The mobility of students in international programmes is high’
• ‘The international student services are extensive'

Special quality label for APEL/APCL

In 2007, the Teacher Education programme of Leuven University College obtained a special quality label for its APEL/APCL process. “The procedure which has been developed, can set an example for other Teacher Education programmes and even for all other study programmes”. With these words, the visitation committee has selected the APEL procedure of Leuven University College as a distinguished feature.