KU Leuven Master of Statistics and Data Science: Tips for international students & FAQs
Disclaimer: This article is a part of “Secrets of the MSc in Statistics and Data Science at KU Leuven”. Note that the written information below is purely subjective and it does not represent any officials from the program.
Author: Xue Li
About the other articles:
TIPS for international students
- Tuition fee: From the academic year 2023–2024, the tuition fee for non-EEA students registering for the first time to our Master of Statistics & Data Science program is 7099,10 euros. If the tuition fee increases while you are still enrolled in the Master of Statistics & Data Science program, the tuition fee you pay for the first time is still valid for non-EEA students who continue these Master studies without interruption. The new tuition fee is for new coming students.
- As non-EEA students, you have some legal restrictions on the flexibility of your study path. Whereas at KU Leuven there is no distinction between EEA and non-EEA individuals, the Belgian migration legislation does involve some distinctions.
- Completing the ISP: All non-EEA students are obliged to enroll in a full-time study programme to meet the legal requirements for a student stay. You will need to register for a minimum of 54 ECTS per academic year to extend your residence permit for the next academic year. An exception is made for students who are in the final phase of their study programme and only have a thesis or a few courses left in order to obtain the degree. In this case, the student should register for all remaining ECTS. If you are in this situation, kindly send an email to the Ombuds & Educational assistant of our program to compose a letter that confirms that you can take less than 54 credits. You can use this letter in case you get questions regarding this minimum.
- Participating in exams: At KU Leuven, all students are expected to participate in the exams. Not participating in certain exams or not handing in a paper will influence your study efficiency and lead to the loss of credits. For non-EEA students, however, not participating in the exams can also have a negative impact on your legal stay in Belgium, as it allows the migration authorities to consider not extending your residence permit in Belgium. Participating in the exams and/or handing in a paper is the only way to prove your intention to study in order to complete your studies as soon as possible. Therefore, you are required to participate in ALL exams in January and June, and when necessary, also in August, unless you have a legally binding reason not to do so (e.g. attested (!) illness). Notice that NA on your transcript might affect your extension of residence permit!
Frequently asked questions
1. What is Individual Study Programme (ISP)?
At the start of the academic year, you fill in your ISP for the whole year (so first and second semesters). Just before the start of the second semester, the ISP will be reopened so that you are able to make changes for the second semester if desired.
2. If I fail a course in the third exam period and I drop it in the next academic year, will it affect my graduation?
If you fail courses (not compulsory courses!!!), and you don’t want to retake them the next year, you just simply don’t add it to your ISP. These courses will not influence your graduation, as they won’t be part of your programme anymore.
3. What are Optional courses?
The part “optional courses” is the most flexible part of your programme.
The student chooses optional courses from:
- the list of courses common to all profiles
- the recommended optional courses of the group
- other courses of the Master of Statistics programme => This means that you can choose any other course that you can find in the programme guide of the Master of Statistics and data science. Also other compulsory courses or courses from other tracks (compulsory and optional ones).
In general, you can take any course of the master programme as an optional course (regardless of track), with the limitation that you can take only one ethical/philosophical course.
Notes: If you take an ethical course of 6 credits (4 credits are required), you can deduct 2 credits from the credits you must get from your optional courses (extra 2 credits of ethical course are counted into your optional courses part).
4. What does ECTS/credits mean?
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool of the European Higher Education Area to make studies and courses easier to compare to each other in workload. 1 ECTS corresponds to 25 to 30 hours of study. This includes going to lectures, working on assignments, and studying for exams, … Most courses in the Master of Statistics and Data Science are between 3 and 6 credits. The full master program is 120 ECTS, split over 2 years. This means that a standard, full-time year of studying consists of 60 ECTS, i.e. around 30 ECTS for each semester.
5. Rules of graduation?
These are the rules for graduation! Students successfully complete a master’s programme if:
- they passed or were granted an exemption for all courses of the programme in their degree contract or degree-examination contract, i.e. they obtained at least 10/20 or a pass in terms of a pass/fail decision;
- OR they meet both of the following conditions:
- obtain a weighted percentage of at least 68% for the study programme as a whole
- obtain not more than one fail mark of 9/20 for a course in the academic year they graduate (excluding the master’s thesis, the work placement or a teaching methodology course).
6. What if I fail a course in my last academic year in the third exam period even if I obtain 120 credits? Can I still graduate?
Let’s say If you take 126 credits, you have to pass all those credits you registered for. You will NOT be able to graduate if you fail one of the courses. You can then re-register next academic year, drop this course from your ISP, and graduate in January without taking any courses.
In short: you have to pass ALL the courses you are registered for within the programme even if you obtain (passed) 120 credits.
To students who want to take more than 120 credits, we often advise doing this via credit contract. This way, failing an extra course does not impact their graduation.
If you don’t want to take this risk and you still want to take an extra optional course, you can always register for this course using a credit contract. This way, this course is not part of your diploma contract and won’t impact your graduation.
7. Internship as part of the ISP of the Master of Statistics and Data Science (except EMOS)
There is a great opportunity to do your internship as part of the ISP (3 credits!). If you want to do an internship while you are a student of the Master of Statistics and Data Science program, please carefully read the document under Master of Statistics and Data Science in Toledo (KU Leuven’s learning platform). The only limitations are that you have to be an on-campus student and you have to have obtained a minimum of 30 credits.
