Today, on 17 July 2017, the Luxembourg and Belgium governments signed an agreement for the access of fifteen students to study their second year of medicine in the French Community of Belgium.
Marc Hansen, Minister Delegate for Higher Education and Research, and Rudy Demotte, Minister-President of the French Community of Belgium, met in Brussels to sign a special agreement on university cooperation in medical studies between the two partner governments.
This agreement became necessary following the decree of 7 November 2013, according to which it was no longer possible for medical students who had successfully completed their first year at the University of Luxembourg to have access to the second year of medical studies in French-speaking Belgian universities.
The agreement guarantees that an authorisation for access to the second year of study in the French Community will be granted annually to a maximum of fifteen Luxembourg students who have successfully completed their first year of medical studies at the University of Luxembourg. The special agreement also stipulates that hospital institutions in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will contribute to the medical training provided by the universities of the French Community of Belgium, by welcoming medical students from these universities at undergraduate, graduate and specialisation levels.
The discussions over the last two years have highlighted the Luxembourg government's desire to find solutions that facilitate the access of Luxembourg students to medical studies in Belgium. Minister Marc Hansen welcomed this agreement as a very important element of Belgian-Luxembourg academic cooperation in medical studies.
The agreement will enter into full force after its ratification by the Parliament of the French Community of Belgium.
Photo copyright Cabinet de M. Rudy Demotte. L-R: Rudy Demotte, Minister-President of the French Community of Belgium; Marc Hansen, Minister Delegate for Higher Education and Research
