Study a term with us. Take the credit home.

If you are enrolled at another university, you can join UIBS as a visiting student for a single five-week term, a quarter, a semester or a full academic year. You earn documented, transferable credit and carry it back to your own degree.

You already know you want to go

The hard part is fitting it in. Fixed exchange dates that clash with your own academic calendar, a bilateral agreement your university may not have, a credit outcome nobody will put in writing: any one of those is enough to end the idea before it starts. None of the three applies here.

We built our year around the constraint that actually decides it

Our academic year runs in five-week terms with up to eight starting points, and we admit on a rolling basis with no application deadlines. You come when your degree has room, not when an exchange calendar says you must.

You enrol as a visiting student: non-degree, no bilateral agreement required, and in the same classroom as our degree students, with the same courses, the same faculty and the same assessment. You leave with a full UIBS transcript.

Choose how long you stay

Format Length Courses European Credits (EC)
Single Term 5 weeks 1 to 2 5 to 10 EC
Quarter 10 + 1 weeks 2 to 4 10 to 20 EC
Semester 15 weeks 4 to 6 20 to 30 EC
Academic Year 2 semesters, 30 weeks 8 to 12 40 to 60 EC

Other durations are possible. If none of these four shapes fits your degree, talk to us about your individual case and we will build the schedule around the terms you can actually take.

Study at any of our campuses (Amsterdam, Antwerp, Barcelona, Brussels, Geneva, Madrid, Milan, Zurich and Tokyo) or online, subject to confirmed course availability for your intake. Online courses carry the same credit and appear on the same transcript.

Credit your registrar can actually approve

For every course we publish the European Credits awarded, the assessment methods and their weightings, and the full syllabus. A registrar should be able to approve the course without writing to us first.

A full-time load is two courses per term. Undergraduate courses are awarded in multiples of 5 EC, so a full semester with us carries 30 EC, the standard European full-time semester load.

No agreement between your university and ours is needed. That said, we are more than happy to speak to your study abroad office or registrar directly, and often that one conversation is what gets the credit approved.

Three steps

1

Tell us when.

Send the term you have in mind and your subject area. We confirm which courses will actually run at your chosen campus.

2

Get it approved at home.

We send you and your registrar the syllabi, the credits awarded and the assessment detail. Your institution confirms in writing what it will recognise.

3

Apply and enrol.

Submit your transcript and English language evidence, and we answer within 2 to 3 working days. Then register, arrange insurance and housing, and enrol.

Rolling admission means there are no deadlines. We recommend starting about one month before your intended start date.

Two things to settle before you book anything

Entry, visas and permits. What is possible depends on your nationality, how long you stay and which campus you choose. See Student visa guidelines.

Fees. Visiting students are billed per credit, at the rate of the campus where the credit is attempted. Program fees cover matriculation and tuition only. See Fees and Scholarships.

Questions

No institution can promise that, because the receiving institution decides. What we can do is document every course to the standard your registrar needs, speak to them directly if that helps, and get you approval in writing before you spend anything.

Yes. Credit measures work, not calendar length. A five-week course carries the same workload and the same assessment as its fifteen-week equivalent, delivered on a shorter calendar.

No. This is not an exchange, and you apply to us directly. We are still very happy to talk to your study abroad office or registrar if they would rather hear it from us.

Yes, if you are taking a quarter or longer, subject to course availability and advising approval. Our degree students can rotate campuses quarterly if they want to, and the same option is open to you.

Yes. Credit you earn with us carries directly into a UIBS programme, and in some cases it can be structured as a dual degree, so you graduate with a credential from both institutions. Ask us whether your programme qualifies, or see Transfer to UIBS.

Tell us the term you have in mind

We will come back with the courses running at your campus and the documentation pack your registrar needs.