Your individual study path
Your individual study path might diverge from the standard study path a bit. At the VUB you can determine your individual study path by choosing the amount of courses you take in a semester or by combining courses from different bachelor years.
Compose your individual study path
How do I compose my individual study path?
When composing your individual study path for an academic year, please take the following into account:
- The amount of courses you can take per academic year
- Enrolment requirements
- Timetables
- An even balance throughout your study path
- Partial grades and exemptions
- Your study progress
- Your learning account
Amount of courses and credits per academic year
When you follow the standard study path, an academic year usually consists of 60 ECTS credits. When you follow an individual study path, you can partly determine the amount of credits you take in one academic year. Please keep in mind that you can take a maximum of 66 credits per academic year. You can request an exception to this maximum by contacting your study path counsellor.
Enrolment requirements
In order to be eligible to take a course, you usually have to meet certain enrolment requirements. These requirements can be both pre- and corequisites.
- A prerequisite is a course of which you have shown that you have mastered the competences attributed to it before being able to enrol for a subsequent course.
- A corequisite is a course that, if you have not passed it yet, you must enrol for together with a subsequent course.
Besides these prerequisites and corequisites, some courses may need an additional enrolment requirement. For these courses you must already have passed a minimum of credits during your study path.
Study path
Languages and HumanitiesStudy path
Social Sciences & Solvay Business SchoolStudy path
Psychology & Educational SciencesStudy path (in Dutch)
Sciences & Bioengineering SciencesStudy path
Medicine & PharmacyStudy path
EngineeringEven balance throughout your study path
When composing your individual study path, it is important to keep an even balance between the first and the second semester. If you have any questions, you can contact your study path counsellor.
Partial grades
A partial grade is a result you get for a certain part of a course. When you pass a certain part of a course, but not the entire course, you have to ask the professor whether this partial grade can be transferred to the next academic year. Please note that, the next academic year, you have to register for the entire course, not just one part/parts of it. The credits of the entire course will be taken into account when composing your individual study path for the next academic year.
Combined enrolment
With a combined enrolment, you combine two study programmes. You can find more information about the conditions and the procedure to request a combined enrolment below.
The study progress regulations always apply
Would you already like to start your master programme, while still taking some courses from your bachelor programme? Then request a combined enrolment!
- Less than 20 ECTS credits from your bachelor or preparatory programme to complete? You will get admission for the master programme. Please enrol as a student with a combined enrolment via student SelfService.
- Between 20 and 40 ECTS credits from your bachelor programme to complete? The dean will decide whether you can combine enrolments. Please request an exception via the form on your faculty's website.
If you combine enrolments, you have to meet the following conditions:
- You can take a maximum of 66 ECTS credits per academic year
- You have to meet the enrolment requirements for the courses in your programme
Why should you make an appointment with your study path counsellor?
Your study path counsellor can inform, advise and guide you throughout your (individual) study path.

He or she can:
- Help you to compose your individual study path
- Give you advice on composing your individual study path
- Inform you on your learning account
- Help you with questions about deliberations and your study progress
- Inform you on exemptions for courses
- help you when you are going through a difficult situation during your academic career

Available online
Because our study path counselors help a lot of students, they try to be available online as much as possible. At VUB we use Microsoft Teams, the app that is available to you as a student free of charge via the Office365 package.
Use the link to the online calendar of your study path counselor to make an appointment (which will then continue digitally) and download the Teams app. At certain times your study path counselor can also be reached via the chat function of the Teams app.
You can also reach your study path counselors via e-mail. They're not always available by phone, so you can schedule an appointment or send your question via e-mail.
Find your study path counsellor
Find the study path counsellor(s) for your programme below.
Faculty
Programme
- Management
- Business Economics
- China Studies (BDA)
- Communication Studies
- Euromaster (IES)
- International Business
- Business & Technology
- Social Sciences
- Political Science: European and International Governance
- Research Master Gerontological Sciences
- All programmes
- Linguistics & literary studies
- Research Master in Philosophy
- Educational Sciences
- All programmes
- Computer Science
Study Path Counselors
- Joyce Huvaere
- Joyce Huvaere / Ken Leemans
- Ioanna Athanassiu
- Ioanna Athanassiu
- Ioanna Athanassiu
- Joyce Huvaere
- Janneke Van den Hoven
- Ioanna Athanassiu
- Ioanna Athanassiu
- Ine De Smet
- Annelies Deboelpaep
- Stijn Ceulemans & Joyce Huvaere
- Stijn Ceulemans & Joyce Huvaere
- Inge Van Mol & Katelijne Verbeiren
- Reen Tallon / Sharon Eeckhout
- Reen Tallon / Sharon Eeckhout