The IB Programme

The IB Major is a compulsory specific set of 5 courses made for and only accessible to selected IB students The courses have been designed to have an international orientation:

• Entrepreneurial Finance (Q1)
• Supply Chain Management (Q1)
• Cross Cultural Competences and Management (Q2)
• Entrepreneurship: topical and international aspects (Q2)
• Platform Strategies (Q2)

The exchange will take place in annual block 2 during the first term, in the Fall.

LSM has over 140 partner universities all over the world that can welcome you for a 4-5 month academic exchange. 

For the list of all LSM partner universities and the regular exchange procedure, please visit the Term Abroad web pages.

Please note: IB students need to follow the regular exchange procedure as any other student. 

A 6-month immersion outside Europe represents a field learning process accompanied by intense coaching. Our experience is that, with such a long duration, high-profile students will be considered as a Junior Manager and subject to normal business practices.

The IB internship must last at least 6 consecutive months after the January exam session of the annual block 2. You can find more information on our intranet internship page (need student logins to access it).

The intern is supervised throughout the internship duration; coaching is a major component of the programme :

• Team building activities before departure.
• Weekly progress reports during the first 4 weeks.
• 4 progress reports afterward.

There are no specificities for the students in the IB track. So the regular Master’s thesis requirements apply.

IB students can choose between a “research” or a “project” Master’s thesis. If they want to link their Master’s thesis with their internship, the exact subject will most often only be defined at the beginning of their internship that is, in Year 2. In that case, a supervisor has nevertheless to be selected in Year 1.

Finally, IB students, like any other regular student, are also required to attend the Master’s thesis seminar in Year 1.

The standard tuition fee for EU-citizens is 835€ per year, meaning the tuition fee for the full IB programme would amount to 1670€. You can learn more about tuition fees and how to reduce the cost of studies on these pages.

The UCLouvain mobility grant is not an entitlement but a financial support for your exchange and/or internship. This grant is not meant to cover all of your expenses.

At UCLouvain, there are two types of grants:

• "Mercator" for mobility outside Europe: grant financed by UCLouvain sponsors only. This grant is available for your exchange OR your internship (not possible for both). Pay attention to the deadlines particularly difficult for the 2nd semester !! A small amount of grant!
• "Erasmus" for mobility in Europe: grant financed by the European Union. As IB students, it is only available if you are doing your exchange in Europe. Interesting amount of grant.

Please note:

• A request for additional support can be introduced in early July to the UCLouvain Social Service (given based on family income).
• Even if you have already received a mobility grant during your bachelor's, you can still benefit from a mobility grant for an exchange during your master's.
• It happens that some companies wish to give money to the intern. What can you accept or not accept as a UCLouvain student?
  . You cannot have a salary, it is absolutely prohibited by the UCLouvain unless the student or company provides the country of internship's legal reference when invoking a legal obligation to impose remuneration.
  . You can however accept some defrayal (accommodation, transport,…).
  . Pay attention to the amount of defrayal or salary vs your allocations familiales et déclaration impôt.