Visayas State University has forged a partnership with a major university in Belgium, a move that it hopes can boost the local state university's opportunities for academic growth in the region.
Recently, VSU officials signed a seven-year student and staff exchange agreement, covering tje academic years 2027–2028 to 2033–2034, with the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of Ghent University.
Ghent University is one of the top universities in the world and the second largest Belgian university, consisting of 50,000 students and 9,000 staff members.
“This partnership with Ghent University gives our students and faculty more opportunities to learn beyond our campus, engage with researchers abroad, and bring those experiences home to VSU. After more than a decade of partnership, it is encouraging to see this relationship open new doors for our people and our work,” VSU President Prose Ivy Yepes said in a statement.
Under the agreement, each institution may send up to two undergraduate or graduate students every academic year.
VSU students may participate in study, internship, or research activities related to their graduate theses, while students enrolled in Ghent University’s Master of Science in Aquaculture program may undertake internships and master’s research at VSU.
The partnership also allows VSU students enrolled in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs to undertake internship and graduate research activities at Ghent University, according to VSU.
Courses and research activities will be jointly planned by academic advisers from both institutions to ensure that activities completed abroad remain aligned with the students’ academic programs at their home universities.
Both universities agreed that exchange students will also be exempted from tuition and academic fees at the host institution. Credits earned during the exchange and covered by an approved Learning Agreement may be recognized and counted toward their respective degrees.
VSU said the agreement also covers faculty exchanges, with up to two professors from each institution allowed to participate in an academic year. Faculty members may engage in teaching, training, research, and other professional activities.
“The faculty exchanges are expected to help bring home new research approaches, teaching practices, and international academic connections that could benefit the university’s faculty and students,” Yepes added.
The partnership focuses particularly on agriculture, aquatic sciences and natural resources, areas that are central to the academic and research programs of both institutions.
Ghent University’s participating program is its MSc in Aquaculture, while VSU will involve students from its Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy programs for internship and graduate research activities.
(With report from PNA)
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