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During your stay

International Student Guide

Questions about practicalities, leisure or facilities? The International Student Guide offers you an elaborate overview of everything you might want to know before, during and after your studies at Ghent University.

Join the Welcome Activities

We recommend you to arrive in Ghent in time so you can participate in the Welcome activities.

Time schedules

There are 3 different types of course schedules:

Schedules from the different study fields are NOT harmonized with each other and can change at the beginning of the semester. You might have to change your courses at the beginning of the semester due to timetable conflicts.

Location of classrooms and auditoria

You can find the exact location of your classrooms and auditoria in your time schedule.

Most classes of our faculty are taught at Campus Ufo and Campus Aula, but Ghent University has campuses throughout the city. 

Courses - procedure at the start of the semester 

Applicable for all exchange students of UGent following courses at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. 
More information will be provided during our Faculty Welcome

  1. Check your courses in the course schedule and on Ufora 
    • Do you have a time table conflict?
    • Are the courses you mentioned in your Learning Agreement still available? 
    • Did the lecturer put any additional information for incoming exchange students about the course on Ufora?
  2. Check if an additional approval by the lecturer is required to follow the courses. 
    • This might be the case for some courses starting with code K00xxxx. An overview of the courses that require an additional approval during the second semester of this academic year can be found here .  
    • If an additional approval is required:
      • Fill in the “Approval of lecturer” document
      • Contact the lecturer (by e-mail, or in person before or after class)
      • Discuss the approval document and get the approval - document signed by lecturer in person or via email
    • During the first week of the semester you can attend classes without having an additional approval by the lecturer yet. 
    • Also check the Ufora page of the course to see if any additional approval requirements apply.
  3. Change your courses if necessary, taking the course offer and course requirements into consideration.
  4. Fill out your Learning Agreement changes (only necessary if you add or delete courses at the start of the semester)
    • Use the sample document from your home university, or download the UGent template from this website.
    • Sign it, have it signed by your home university.
  5. Upload your "Approval of lecturer" document(s)/Learning Agreement changes in Oasis (if applicable).
    • Approval of lecturer: exchange application - tab documents - "other" - comment: 'approval of lecturer - course title’ (scan/pdf)
    • Learning Agreement changes: exchange application - tab documents - "other" - comment: 'Learning Agreement changes'
  6. Submit your curriculum so RIO can check your file. If your file is OK, RIO will:
    • Sign the Learning Agreement changes
    • Upload the Learning Agreement changes signed by 3 parties in Oasis
    • Approve your curriculum

Deadline uploading requested documents + submitting your curriculum:

  • Semester 1: 20 October
  • Semester 2: 28 February

Online Platforms (Ufora - Oasis - Athena)

Students at Ghent University need to be able to handle multiple online platforms.  

Feeling good at our faculty

Check our webpage on Feeling good!

Special status for students

Students with a disability or exceptional social/personal circumstances can apply for a special status. Depending on the grounds on which the special status was given, students with a special status may be granted one or more facilities. 

    Examinations

    Re-examinations

    • If you fail your examination, you are automatically registered for a re-examination during the resit examination period (end of August, beginning of September). It is not necessary to contact the lecturer separately to make arrangements regarding your re-examinations, except in special circumstances.
    • Schedules for re-examinations can be found in Oasis ("my calendar") from July onwards. 
    • It is not possible to participate in re-examinations for courses you succeeded during the first examination session.
    • If you do not want to take part in the re-examinations (for one or more of your courses), you can opt-out via Oasis.

      • How to opt-out for resits:
        ∙    Go to Oasis.UGent.be and log in with your UGent account
        ∙    Click on ‘My calendar’ on the left side
        ∙    Click on ‘Deelname aan tweedekansexamens’ (resit examination attendance)
        ∙    In the course overview, tick the re-examinations you will not take

    • What if you are ill or have an overlap during the resit examination period? When will the resit examination results be announced? You can find the answers on the faculty website about exams and feedback.
    • Your UGent account and student card are valid until the end of the resit examination period so you don't need to officially prolong your stay for re-examinations. Prolongation is only necessary if you need UGent housing for the re-examination period.
    • Transcript of records after resit: If you do not attend the re-examination after a failure in the first examination session, the transcript of records of the resit examination period will not repeat the grades of the first examination session but will mention "absent".

    Prolongation 

    Usually it is not possible to prolong your stay, unless the exchange agreement exceptionally provides this possibility . Do you want us to check if a prolongation is possible? Please contact rio.psw@ugent.be at least two months before the start of the semester. RIO will inform you about the possibilities.