Students in medical science will be able to go to Belgium to complete the second cycle of their studies after completing their bachelor in Luxembourg.  Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Students in medical science will be able to go to Belgium to complete the second cycle of their studies after completing their bachelor in Luxembourg.  Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

On 4 January, Belgium’s French-speaking community and Luxembourg signed a new agreement for medical students. From the academic year 2023-2024 on, 8 Luxembourg students with a medicine bachelor will have access to Belgian universities to complete the second cycle of their medical education.

This new agreement between the grand duchy and Belgium, signed by education minister Claude Meisch (DP) and his Belgian counterpart Valérie Glatigny, aims to lengthen an existing agreement from 2017. The previous deal allowed a maximum of 15 students issued from the university of Luxembourg to join the Belgian curriculum in 2nd year, provided that they passed the first year of medical studies in Luxembourg. 

In exchange, Luxembourg hospitals would welcome medical students from the French-speaking community of Belgium to complete their internships and specialisations. 

The renewed agreement now allows, on top of the 15 students joining Belgian universities in their 2nd year, eight additional students to join the Belgian curriculum after obtaining their bachelor in medicine at the university of Luxembourg. 

The deal--after being signed in the French-Belgian parliament--will come into force for the academic year 2023/2024 as the first Luxembourg-based graduates of the medical science bachelor will complete the first study cycle in 2022/2023. 

In Luxembourg, around 125 students are admitted to the medical science bachelor every year. Students may then choose to continue their studies in France, Belgium or Germany after successfully completing the first year. 

With the signed agreement, Luxembourg vowed to push hospitals in the grand duchy to accept more Belgian students as interns.