Exchange at Ghent University, Belgium

Hi! I’m Olivia and I’m currently on exchange at Ghent University (Ugent) in Ghent, Belgium. I am studying a Bachelor of Software Engineering (Honours) Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice which places me in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture here at Ugent. I am taking elective subjects at Ugent – as a requirement I need 50% of my courses to be within the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture which has enabled me to take courses outside my faculty including business and history subjects. I am also learning Dutch which is offered at around $100 AUD for exchange students. An exchange student welcome day and a faculty specific welcome was held started which really helped with preparing for the semester and with meeting fellow exchange students. A great bonus was receiving free tokens for fries, beer, and a boat ride around the city which I was quick to spend!

Adjusting to classes at Ugent was simpler than I expected it to be as all my classes are offered in English. Similar to Canvas used at UTS, we use an online learning platform called Ufora. My classes are a mix of lectures and tutorials and are very interactive and discussion based which has been an enjoyable way to learn and get to know my classmates. The only downside for me if that the classes are 3 hours in length which is a bit long for me, however this does allow us to cover more content and with this I have just one class for each subject per week.

I’m loving living in Ghent so far. It is a wonderful place for history, architecture, and art, with plenty of churches, historic buildings, galleries, and museums around and is a vibrant and multicultural city where many domestic and internal students and expats live. Because of this it is perhaps one of the best places to live in Europe for an English speaker, and I’ve found that most people speak English very well. Riding a bike is a great way to get around the city and one thing I’ve noticed is that Belgians will bike anywhere, whether it’s sunny or pouring rain (which happens more often than not in Belgium). Another great thing about Belgium is that it is closely located to other European countries like France, Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands, and I’d definitely like to do some international trips throughout this exchange experience.

I live in private accommodation and pay around $750 AUD per month in rent which is average in Ghent.  The housing accommodation at Ghent University is limited and was not sufficient for the number of incoming exchange students in Ghent, therefore me and plenty others needed to look for accommodation in the private market. My advice for anyone looking to study in Ghent or a similar city would be to apply early to your university and for housing as it is extremely competitive. In terms of the private market, I was shown some websites and Facebook pages advertising places – with these it is important to be wary of scammers. Getting accommodation this way was also extremely competitive – listings can be up for less than 5 minutes before getting an expression of interest and when you live in a different time zone this can mean many missed opportunities. For this I’d recommend being vigilant and having notifications for important pages or contacts. If you know someone that lives near that city, you could also ask them to check out any housing options for you.

What I have enjoyed most about my exchange experience so far has been making new friends from different countries and faculties. While it has been a mental adjustment with adapting to a new country, school, and home, I have found that the best experiences have come from saying ‘yes’ to things and stepping outside of my comfort zone from exploring cafes and bars in the city to taking weekend trips to other Belgian cities like Bruges and Antwerp. There have been great networks and social programs for exchange students to get involved in such as buddy programs, speed friending, pub crawls and parties which have allowed me to get to know Ghent and my fellow exchange students and for future exchange students, I’d recommend that you look for similar programs to get involved in.

Overall, I can’t recommend going on exchange enough. Within just a month of coming to Ghent I have started to learn how to live alone, adjust to a new country, culture and university and make new friends and I’m excited over the next 4-5 months to grow and experience so much more!

Olivia Pham

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Diploma of Professional Practise, majoring in Software Engineering

Global Exchange Student

Ghent University, Belgium