The University of Kent has become the first UK institution to be registered as a higher education provider in Flanders with the accreditation of its Brussels campus.
Kent is the only UK university with a campus in Brussels and the quality of its Masters programmes in international relations, law and economics has now been recognised officially within the Flemish Community.
Professor Roger Vickerman, Dean of the University of Kent’s Brussels campus, said: ‘The postgraduate degree programmes at our Brussels School of International Studies have always been recognised under the UK’s quality assurance regime.
‘While this assures recognition throughout the European Union, there are additional benefits to students in demonstrating that our degrees meet the local requirements of the country in which they are taught.
‘The strong quality message contained in the accreditation panel’s report has given us great confidence that we have programmes which meet the highest international standards.’
The Flemish Government gave final approval for the registration last month following a rigorous accreditation process that included a visit by a panel of experts to look at all aspects of course content and delivery.
Professor Dame Julia M Goodfellow, Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent, said: ‘This is extremely good news which both underwrites the international quality of our postgraduate programmes and confirms our position as the UK’s European university.’
Belgium’s higher education is devolved to the respective language communities in the country’s federal structure and the University of Kent’s accreditation was approved by the Flemish Government in October 2011. The University now appears on the register of higher education in Flanders (http://www.highereducation.be/home[1]).