r/KULeuven

Hi everyone,

Starting my Master's at KU Leuven in September, and based on this year's calendar I'll mostly be at Arenberg campus (Computer Science).

My current laptop only holds ~3h on battery. Before I invest in a new one, does anyone know if lecture halls at Arenberg have enough outlets to plug in during class? Or is a power bank/new laptop basically mandatory there?
Thanks in advance!

Master's in Computer Science. Title is pretty much self-explantory. I kinda wanna take a consensus of people's experience here and I'm wondering if this is just an impossible bottleneck.

Hi everyone, I just received my score for the course mentioned above. I got a 9/20, which I honestly can't believe because I felt I did really well on the exam.

According to the professor's announcement, it seems that we won't be able to see our exam papers. I know the chances of an exam being graded incorrectly are very low, but is there any way I could ask to see my paper? Has anyone managed to do this before?

I was thinking about appealing the grade, but the feedback session is after the appeal deadline. If I can't even see my paper, I don't know how I'm supposed to understand the grading or make a case for an appeal.

The feedback dates are either after the appeal deadline or only one day before it (the appeal deadline is seven days after receiving the grades).

Or maybe I'm just being delusional and I didn't do as well as I thought? (Please share your opinion and don't be mean. I worked so hard for this course so I'm in shock right now)

We all are pretty aware of what's been going on (we for sure can feel it). I was surprised to know that whilst many educational institutions closed off due to temperatures, KULeuven didn't and many students like me had to endure exams in a ~30 degree room. These are unbearable conditions which makes conceptualisation in difficult exams even more of a challenge; this does not seem fair especially considering the milestone system for first year students, which have "exam chances" counted.

Now, it's not like I'm trying to find an excuse and say "if exams went bad, it's certainly because of lack of measures by KUL"... No, that's not my point. My main intention is to know if and when there will be any contingencies for heatwaves that will only become more common. Exam postponing? Investment in room cooling? I'm aware that there are heavy logistics involved. However, as stated, doing exams or any other academic activity in such conditions is a struggle and also a health risk. This should be addressed.

PS.: I assume this platform is not the ideal place to get these answers, but I suppose it'll be a relevant point of discussion. If one of you could also redirect me to the proper KUL faction to which I can pose these questions, I'd be grateful :)

So waterview sent me an email saying my application is cancelled because they received “no confirmation.” However I paid my deposit and signed my contract on time, two months ago in fact. Last week I received an email saying my stay has been confirmed and that they have received my signed contract.

Im assuming this must be an administrative error?

I just sent an email disputing this and attaching a pdf of the document where they confirmed my stay, guess I just need to wait for a reply and pray

Hello guys!

I'm not trying to be illegal but I found this lovely room (with a cat :')) for the first semester. I'll move somewhere else for second semester. Is it okay to rent such a house. Does it cause any problem with residence permit renewal, do you have any idea?

Hello! I got admitted pretty late and couldn’t start looking for accommodation early. I am currently looking for studios mostly on kotwjs and immoweb, but theres not a lot of affordable options, and no one is responding to emails.
Does anyone have any recommendations or other websites i can look at? Thanks in advance!

I'm filling forms for residences aggresively rn because I got in pretty late. Mostly all rooms in KUL residence halls are full, I'll mostly be placed on a waiting list for them. I have another option of opting for a room at Holleberg, which is managed by KUL and Stuvo both. Can someone share how their experience with Stuvo was, more specifically Holleberg? Even though it is managed by KUL, I need to know if the rooms are comfortable, and how the ambience is.

I will be filling the form for the residence halls because I heard back from a few of them telling me that I should, because there might be chances of people cancelling the rooms, after which I might get one. Should I wait for them or just go with Holleberg or look for more privately-owned residences?

Thank you very much :-)

I recently completed my MA Theology thesis defense (one-year master's program).

Will they fail your thesis or give you a low grade (like 10/20) if one of the correctors that your methodology has (major) problem and it weakens the credibility of your thesis. Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone,

I’ll be moving to Leuven this September for KU Leuven and am currently looking for accommodation in Leuven.
I know it may already be quite late in the housing cycle, so I’d really appreciate any practical advice. Is there anything I can still do at this point?

Hello I am asking whether anyone would like to share graduation ceremony experience.

I am an international student and extended my program due to exchange, so I barely know any current students/graduates in my program. My friends who are working will also be unavailable on that day. So basically I will attend without friends or family. Is that something weird during the ceremony? I know noboday might notice, but I still feel a bit awkward about it.

Have you seen anyone attending the ceremony without bringing any guests? I am a bit anxious about what will happen.

Thank you!

Hi guys, I just defended my master thesis recently. I already expressed my interest to publish this work to a as academic paper. My promoter (Professor) & supervisor (PhD student) both seems to be supportive. But I'm yet to discuss it further.

How common is it to publish as first author for a paper that's based on master thesis? I don't want to put any heavy work further if I'm not first author. I think it's just worth a lot more for me if in term of 4pplying for academic career internationally if I'm the first author.

Please let me know if you have any knowledge about this, thanks!

I got admitted to UCL London and KU Leuven, both for materials sciences. Now I know the ranking for UCL is much higher but there's a lot of hearsay around UK's job market & the uncertainty there. Moreover, add the cost to it and a year in UCL will cost me over four times what KU Leuven will, as an international student. Also, KU Leuven is ranked higher when you look at the rankings for materials sciences. Everyone I have spoken to has shown their apprehension for UK for international students at this point.

In the future, I plan on doing a PhD. What would be the best option for this? Would love to hear opinions from both sides before making a final decision.

My daughter is a KU Leuven student and is finishing her Master’s in July 2026. Her graduation ceremony is on July 2, 2026.

On April 25, 2026, she informed her landlord in writing that she planned to leave her student studio on July 7, 2026, because her studies are ending. After that, they started looking for a replacement tenant and did not ask for any KU Leuven proof at that time, so she assumed she could provide the relevant document once it became officially available.

Now the landlord says this does not fall under Article 64 §1, 2° of the Flemish Housing Rental Decree because she had not yet officially completed her studies or deregistered when she gave notice. They are therefore claiming a penalty equal to two months’ rent.

I’m trying to understand whether that interpretation is correct.

A few questions:

1. Does graduation / completion of studies count as “termination of studies” under Article 64 §1, 2°?
2. Can a student give notice before the official graduation date if it is already clear that the studies are ending, and then provide proof later when it becomes available?
3. What document is normally accepted as proof for this, graduation confirmation, degree completion, or deregistration?
4. If notice is given before graduation and proof is provided later, is that notice still valid?
5. In this kind of situation, should the result be a 2-month notice period rather than a separate 2-month penalty?

If anyone has dealt with something similar, or knows how this is usually interpreted by the courts, I’d really appreciate your input.

Hey everyone, quick question about the UP community houses. Are they super intense/religious, or are they chill, open communities where anyone would have a good time living there for the academic year? Just trying to get a feel for the vibe.