The Preparatory Year of Dutch is especially organized for non-Dutch speaking students who want to prepare themselves to academic studies in Dutch. The programme consists of 6 modules, from level 1 (A2 of the CEF) till level 6 (C1 of the CEF). The final test of the level 5 module is the Interuniversity test of Dutch for Speakers of Other Languages (ITNA). By passing the ITNA, you meet the language requirements of higher education and can thus enroll at a Flemish university (college). You can find more information on the content of the different modules on our website.
In the academic year 2025-2026 the Preparatory Year of Dutch (VJN) starts on 7/10/2025 and finishes at the latest on 20/9/2026. Classes are held in the morning or in the afternoon. You have to be available in the morning and in the afternoon.
You are present as of the first lesson. All classes will be organized on campus. There are no online classes.
Starting later is only possible if your student visa has been refused and a new application has been submitted. You forward the visa refusal to the UCT together with the application for a review of the decision. You can then start on 21/11/2025. Starting later than 21/11/2025 is not possible.
There are no lessons during the mid-term break (27/10-2/11/2025), the Christmas holiday (22/12/2025-4/1/2026), the Easter holiday (6-19/4/2026) and July (1-24/7/2026).
You must reside in Belgium legally. Your classes will take place in one of the buildings of Ghent University, located in the center of Ghent. Ghent Is medium sized city, easily accessible by public transport or by bike.
If covid-19 or another situation beyond our control prohibits us to teach on campus, we will switch to online classes.
It can be quite a challenge to master Dutch in one year in order to function on an academic level. It is therefore best to consider this study as a full-time task. The trajectory is taught at a fast pace, which means that you will have to process a lot of information in a short amount of time. This requires a substantial amount of effort from the student. You will have to attend nine to fifteen hours of class tuition per week, depending on the level. Furthermore, we also need you to invest three more hours a day for further study. Finally, you are expected to engage in conversation in Dutch outside of the UCT as often as possible.
We advise you to come to Ghent at latest one week before the start of the programme. This provides you with ample time for further administrative arrangements regarding your stay in Belgium.
If you have not passed a certain level or if you have not done the final test, you will have to retake this level because it is not possible to proceed to the next level if you have not passed the previous one.
You can follow a level two times.
If you have followed a certain level two times without passing the final test, your registration will be cancelled. We will refund the amount of the tuition fee that has not been used up at that moment, without costs.
If you do not pass the level 4 course, you will retake this level unless you take this course in March-May or April-June. We will then give you the opportunity to purchase a self-study package and retake the final test of this level. If you pass this new test, you can take the level 5 course in August-September so that you can obtain a B2 certificate before the start of the academic year.
You cannot choose the timing of this test. If you have followed the course in March-May, you will take the test again at the end of June. If you have followed the course in April-June, you will take the test at the end of July or the beginning of August. You can only take this new test once.
You can only apply if you have a written proof that you have been accepted by a Flemish university or university college (academic year 2026-2027). If you have been accepted by Ghent University, you do not have to send us this written proof. The UCT will contact the student administration of Ghent University to confirm that you have been accepted (more information on the website).
Please pay attention: an acceptance letter is not a proof that you are enrolled at a Flemish university or university college. An acceptance letter is a proof that you have been accepted to a certain programme. After you have successfully followed the Preparatory Year of Dutch and thus have obtained a B2 certificate of Dutch (for applied linguistics a C1 certificate, you can enroll at the school of your choice. You do not need to be enrolled at a Flemish university or university college in order to be accepted for the Preparatory Year of Dutch.
Future students with direct access to Ghent University do not need this written proof of acceptance. See the website of Ghent University for more information.
You need no prior knowledge of Dutch before you can enrol but you do need basic knowledge of English as an intermediate language (required level: A2 of the CEF). The teachers will only speak English as a supporting language. All information is only available in Dutch and English.
Once all application documents are in our possession (see ‘Applications and payments’), we will examine your application. If we accept your application, you will receive a payment request of €300. Upon receipt of the payment, we will send you an invitation via email to have an interview with one of our staff via MSTeams. Among other things, this will allow us to get a view of your language skills in English via a short, online language test. You only get one chance to prove your English language skills during this interview. There is no retake possible! In addition, we will ask some questions about the Preparatory Year Dutch and the programme you will follow after the Preparatory Year Dutch.
If you are accepted for the Preparatory Year Dutch, we will finalise your registration for the Preparatory Year Dutch.
You can only apply by filling out the VJN application form on our website.
The UCT accepts applications from 16/12/2024 until 1/5/2025 for those applicants who need a student visa, and until 1/8/2025 for the applicants who do not need a student visa, for as long as places are available.
We advise you to apply well in advance and not to wait until 1/5/2025 or 1/8/2025. This especially applies to students who want to study at Ghent University or to students who need a student visa. A visa procedure can take up to three months, but is unpredictable and can thus take longer.
If you want to study at Ghent University, please make sure that you apply at Ghent University well before the deadline!
The APS-certificate is required for students from the People’s Republic of China.
More information can be found on the website of Ghent University on the APS screening.
If you are accepted for the Preparatory Year Dutch, we will finalise your registration for the Preparatory Year Dutch.You will receive an invoice by email. If you need a student visa, the payment has to be executed before 1/6/2025! If you do not need a studentvisa, youy pay at the latest two weeks before the start of the programme. When the payment is not executed on time, we will cancel your registration.
Je inschrijving is pas geldig zodra het geld op de rekening van de UGent staat. Na ontvangst van de betaling stuurt het UCT via e-mail een bevestigingsbrief (‘letter of admission’) die je kan gebruiken om je studentenvisum aan te vragen.
Bank charges have to be paid by the student.
Ghent University will send you an email with a link to activate your UGent account. You must choose a password to activate your UGent account.
Together with your UGent account you receive a UGent e-mail address. In most cases it looks like this: first name.family name@ugent.be
After activating your UGent account, you must also set up Multi-factor authentication (MFA). It is very important that you choose several methods and certainly also a method that you can use when you have arrived in Belgium! So DO NOT choose a phone in your home country if you don't bring that phone with you to Belgium.
ALWAYS USE your Ghent University account! You can send emails with it, you can use it on websites that are very important to follow your lessons: Ufora, OASIS, Athena, etc.
You can check your UGent email via OWA.
All communication regarding the Preparatory Year of Dutch (VJN) should take place via email. We cannot answer questions about a specific record by phone.
The moment you have your UGent email address, you use this email. You always send an email to uct@ugent.be. As soon as we have given you a student number (which can be found on the invoice and consists of 8 digits beginning with 0) you have to mention this number whenever you contact us.
The registration fee is 5,130 euro, 600 euro application fee and 4,530 euro for the classes. For this amount, you can take a total of 8 modules, 2 modules level 1 and 6 modules levels 2-6. If you follow only 6 modules, we will refund the money you did not use after finishing the Preparatory Year of Dutch. If you follow more than 8 modules, you will pay an additional fee of 545 euro per module.
Course materials and all tests are included in the fee.
You pay 300 euro (50% of the application fee) after UCT has examined and accepted your application. Upon receipt of payment, we will invite you for an interview via MSTeams during which your knowledge of English will be examined.
Students of Ghent University (academic year 2026-2027) who have passed the course Dutch for Speakers of Other Languages level 5 of their VJN, can get a refund for all levels provided that they show us their valid student card. The refund is the student reduction(€205 for level 1 and €180 for levels 2-6). The student reduction can be applied for until 1/12/2026. After that, reimbursement is no longer possible.
Cancellations are possible until two weeks before the start of the programme, i.e. until 23/9/2025.
Cancellations can only be done by the students themselves and have to be done by email.
If you cancel at the latest on 15/8/2025, administrative costs of 700 euro will be charged.
If you cancel after 15/8/2025 and at the latest on 23/9/2025, administrative costs of 900 euro will be charged.
Cancellations are no longer possible after 23/9/2025. A ref und is thus no longer possible.
A cancellation is final unless your student visa has been refused and you have applied for a review of the refusal. If you are granted a student visa upon review of the refusal, your cancellation will be reversed and you will be re-enrolled. If your student visa is refused a second time, only then will the course fee minus the cancellation fee be refunded.
Bank costs have to be borne by the course participant.
When you cancel you provide us with the following data:
Obtaining a visa takes time. We therefore strongly advise you to start the visa procedure as soon as possible.
You can find more information on the website of the Immigration office of the federal government home affairs.
The visa application procedure is your own responsibility. This is outside the scope and responsibility of the UCT. The UCT will therefore not intervene.
The Belgian government, i.e. the Immigration Office, can request information from the UCT on study progress and discontinuation of the programme.
No, see point 3. However, during the first lesson you will obtain a card that you can use in the university restaurants and the sport facilities of Ghent University (GUSB).
Yes, if you are younger than 26 and do not live in Ghent. You can find an attestation on Oasis.
Yes, you can find an attestation on Oasis once the full course fee has been paid.
No, you are only a student of Ghent University if you are enrolled. This is only possible if you have obtained the certificate of Dutch (level 5).
Ghent University does offer you a number of facilities as a VJN-student. You can find information on the website of Ghent University.
More information about a blocked account can be found on the website of Ghent University.
Contact: international@ugent.be
You can find all the information about when and how to enrol at Ghent University on the website.
You can only enrol if you have proof that you have a B2- or C1-level of Dutch. This B2-level equals level 5 at the University Language Centre (UCT), the C1-level equals level 6.
You find more information on the website of Ghent University.
Please keep in mind that there is a shortage of student rooms in Ghent and that you will not be able to rent a student room of Ghent University yet.