Frequently Asked Questions

Thomas More consists of two different official instances, each of which has a different Erasmus code. The Erasmus code you will need will depend on the campus you will be studying at:

Thomas More Mechelen-Antwerpen: B MECHELE14

Campus Antwerp, De Nayer (Sint-Katelijne-Waver) and Mechelen

Thomas More Kempen: B GEEL07

Campus Lier, Geel, Vorselaar and Turnhout

Students from partner universities where both schools have signed and Inter-Institutional Agreement (IIA) or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) obtain a waiver of this tuition fee.
This means that if Thomas More has an agreement with your home university, you won’t have to pay tuition fees at Thomas More during your exchange, since you pay them at your home university.

Not sure if our universities have an agreement already? Please check with your home university first.
 

In order to join our exchange programmes you need to first get nominated. If your nomination gets accepted, you will receive the application procedure via email.

When is the nomination deadline?

• Autumn semester (and whole academic year) - 1st of May
• Spring semester - 15th of October

When is the application deadline?

• Autumn semester (and whole academic year) - 15th of May
• Spring semester - 31st of October
   

After you have submitted your application, the International Office will process it and contact you asap.
If you have been accepted into the exchange programme you applied for, you will get your acceptance letter by email.
If not, you will receive an email to inform you why.

Autumn semester = September to January
Spring semester = February yo June

As an exchange student you must always submit your (Online) Learning Agreement before arrival:

What?

An (Online) Learning Agreement is a mandatory document in order to participate in an exchange programme. The purpose of the (Online) Learning Agreement is to provide a transparent and efficient preparation of the exchange to make sure that students receive recognition for the activities successfully completed abroad. It sets out the programme of the studies or the traineeship to be followed abroad.

Online Learning Agreement

• Compulsory for all students coming from a European Higher Education Institution according to the Erasmus+ rules
• You need to start the procedure at your home institution
• It's very important to choose the correct Erasmus+ code in the system, since Thomas More has officially 2 different codes

Learning Agreement

• The paper version of the Learning Agreement can be used by students studying outside of Europe
• You can use our Learning Agreement template if your home institution doesn't provide one

When?

You need to submit your (Online) Learning Agreement ((O)LA) before arrival:

Where?

Online Learning Agreement

You need to start the procedure online at your home institution. Every institution uses another procedure, please check with your International Office for the correct procedure.

Learning Agreement

You should upload the signed Learning  Agreement in the system before the deadline. You will receive the instructions to do so by email.
This document needs to be signed by you and your international coordinator at home.

After your enrolment has been processed, you will receive an email from Thomas More’s Student Administration. It will contain a personalized URL for you to activate your account. You need this link and your student number to complete the activation.

Your username = your account number = your student number (written as: r0123456). You will find this number in the same email. After activating your account, you will have access to the main information channel for your study programme and other services like the student portal.

You will need to set a password for your Thomas accounts. Please note that this password must comply with a number of conditions, which can also be found in the account activation email. everyone at Thomas More logs into their account with a password and an additional security method (usually an app on your smartphone). Read all about it here.

Is there a problem?
Then it’s best to request a new code from the service desk by going to this website and choosing 'I cannot log in'.

What do I use my account for?

• You can use it to log into the Thomas More applications (Canvas, email, student portal…). In this case you need to use your full email address as your username and the password you chose.
• You can also use it for the web-based applications from the KU Leuven Association (such as KU Loket), where you will need to use only your student number (not the full email address) as your user name. The password is always the same.

You can request certain certificates yourself via the application ‘Selfservice certificates’ in the ‘KU Loket’ system.  The application is available as a tile under ‘Study & Exams’. 

When all fields are filled in, a button ‘send’ appears. If you press this button, a certificate is generated in the background. This certificate will be sent as an attachment in pdf-format to your Thomas More email address. You will receive a confirmation when the creation of the certificate and the preparation of the email have gone correctly. Sending the email make take some time.

Most certificates will have a QR-code on them. This unique code can be used to verify the authenticity of the certificate through a professional scanner or with QR-code apps on smartphones, tablets and PC.

NMBS/De Lijn certificate:

If you come to school by train or bus and would like to purchase a campus card or season ticket with NMBS/SNCB (Belgian train companies) or De Lijn/STIB/MIVB (Belgian bus and tram companies), you can use this certificate to prove that you are indeed enrolled at Thomas More and thus entitled to the student discount.

Proof of enrolment (certificate called “inschrijvingsbewijs”):

You can use this certificate at any time to prove that you are enrolled at Thomas More (e.g., if your landlord asks, for the townhall registration, etc.).

About 3 hours after you have activated your Thomas more account and chosen your password, you have access to your Thomas More mail. 

How does my Thomas More mail look like?

Your Thomas More email address, looks like this:  <your r-number>@student.thomasmore.be (e.g. r0123456@student.thomasmore.be).

How can I check my Thomas More mail?

You can check your Thomas More mail if you login at https://outlook.office356.com with your r-number@student.thomasmore.be (e.g. r0123456@thomasmore.be) and the password you have set. 

Canvas is our digital learning environment for lessons, tests, exams, … Each professor has a corresponding Canvas course for his/her subject.  In this course on Canvas learning material such as slides, extra exercises, info about the exam, … will be posted. Check it regularly!

How to log in into Canvas?
You can access Canvas via this webpage. Log in with your Thomas More email address (ex. r0123456@student.thomasmore.be) and your personal password.

As from when do I have access to Canvas?
After activating your account, it may take one to two days before your data is uploaded into the Thomas More digital learning environment.

What if I cannot see my courses in Canvas?

There could be different reasons for this:

• If your Individual Study Programme (ISP) has not been arranged/approved yet, you won’t be able to see your courses.
• The teacher might have not published the course yet (ex. At the beginning of the semester).

More information on Canvas in the student portal.

What is the KU Loket?

The KU Loket is your digital student file. Here you can:

• compose your individual study programme (ISP) at the start of the academic year and send it to your study counsellor. Your ISP is your individual study contract. It determines the courses you are enrolled in and which exams you will take this year.
• consult your exam results after each examination period
• check your registration information and the courses you're enrolled in for the whole academic year
• re-enrol for the next academic year if you are a full degree student. You receive an invitation email to do so.
• and much more!

How to log in to the KU Loket?

You'll have to log on using your Thomas More account. Your username is your r-number (r0123456) and your password is your Thomas More password.​
Please note it's only possible to access this platform once  you have officially enrolled in our system and activated your account.

What is an ISP?

With your Individual Study Programme (ISP) you determine the courses you will take in the coming academic year. Your ISP has to meet the requirements of the programme you're registered for.

When to fill in my ISP?

International students create and edit their ISPs during the Orientation Days:

• Autumn semester: your ISP is available from September 12 and has to be submitted before September 28 2023.
• Spring semester: your ISP is available from February 7 and has to be submitted before February 22 2023.

Via our services

You will be able to buy or order all new study material via Thomas More. Our different campuses work with different suppliers.

Second-hand study material

Both for buying and selling second hand books we refer our students to the website of Stubooks (Dutch only).  Here  you can create a profile as a student and put books for sale as well as buy books.  You can easily filter on Thomas More and even on education.
Some Thomas More campuses also organise sales days for second hand books.

What are ECTS credits, and how many hours of work do they entail?

What are ECTS credits?

ECTS is short for European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. It is a standard way to compare the credits associated with a certain amount of learning and the associated workload in higher education across the European Union.

Workload

ECTS is a credit system based on student workload. The credits are a value given to course units to describe the amount of work needed to complete them successfully. 1 ECTS corresponds to 25 to 30 hours of work per semester (including time spent in class, meetings for group work, reading assignments, studying for exams, etc.).

ECTS credits express a relative value. Study hours are estimates because you may spend more time on a course you are not so familiar with and maybe less on another course that is exactly in your area of interest and expertise. That means that one of your 3 ECTS courses may involve more work than a 6 ECTS course.

A bachelor's degree consists of 180 ECTS credits. One year’s study is 60 credits, which is normally equivalent to 1500–1800 hours of total workload. 

ECTS grading scale

ECTS also includes a standard grading scale, shown in addition to Flemish standard grades.

* If you are a non-EEA student who is already studying in another EEA country and, therefore, you already have a visa for that other EEA country, then you don't need to apply for a new visa to come to Belgium. However, the International Office will need to notify the authorities about this latest  days before your arrival in Belgium.
Is this your case? You need to contact yourself the International Office via incoming@thomasmore.be asap to start this procedure.

If you need a visa to study at Thomas More, you will need to apply for a long-stay visa (type D). This is also called an Authorisation for Provisional Sojourn (Machtiging tot Voorlopig Verblijf). It allows the holder to enter and remain in Belgium for a period longer than 90 days.

Students should not enter Belgium on a tourist visa if they intend to stay longer than 90 days. Thomas More will not support an application for a change of status or visa. 

The visa application must be completed at the Belgian Consulate or Embassy in your home country or in the country where you legally reside. If there is no Belgian consulate or embassy in your country, you may submit your application to the Belgian consulate or Embassy in a neighbouring country.  In some countries, a visa application centre handles the visa procedures for Belgium, for example VFS Global and TLS. 

Make sure that you inform Thomas More via email (Degree students: admissions@thomasmore.be. Exchange students: incoming@thomasmore.be) about the application number and/or contact person at the Belgian embassy or consulate where you are applying for your visa. This way, we can confirm your admission directly with them.

If you need a visa, we highly recommend starting this process as soon as you have received the necessary documents from Admissions (for Degree students) or International Office (for Exchange students). Student visa applications can often take 3 to 4 months to be processed so it is essential to start the process as soon as you received your documents.

Plan to be in Belgium at least two weeks before the start of the classes in order to attend Welcome Days.

It is important to refer to the Belgian Embassy or Belgian Consulate website in your home or neighbouring country. They will provide you with information about which documents are required to apply for a student visa. Please note that some embassies and consulates work with external agencies like VFS or TLS.

If you are going to study Applied Computer Science then you may fill in the following details:

Name university: Thomas More Kempen
Organisation nr: 103581
Nr + Street: 2 Havenlaan
Postal code: 2440
City: Geel

If you are going to study any of our other English programmes then you may fill in the following details:

Name university: Thomas More Mechelen-Antwerpen
Organisation nr: 103598
Nr + Street: 60 Zandpoortvest
Postal code: 2800
City: Mechelen

If you are an exchange student, the international Office will automatically send you your acceptance letter by e-mail once you have been accepted to Thomas More. You will receive this letter after the application deadline has passed.

Please take these additional tips & tricks into account when applying for your student visa:

The Belgian Embassy will ask you to fill out a questionnaire or they will have an interview. In this interview they will assess your study choice, university choice, post-study plans etc... It is of utmost importance that you prepare yourself for these questions and that you have thoroughly studied your programme and Thomas More. Attending our webinars can be a great start, but also checking out our website. The Embassy will expect you to know exact details of your programme and studies and well thought through answers (no general, vague answers).

Please make sure to not share your answers with fellow student visa applicants. The Embassy will notice and this will most likely have a negative effect on your visa decision.

Examples of questions that you could get asked:

• What kind of studies do you want to follow in Belgium?
• What motivated your choice for these kind of studies?
• Give a brief survey of the programme of the studies you want to follow.
• Which profession would you like to exercise?
• Which are the professional outlets in your country of origin with the diploma you will have obtained in Belgium?

Thomas More offers exchange students who have been accepted to one of their programmes the option of a blocked account procedure. 

What is a blocked account procedure?

It's a way for you to prove your financial solvency, i.e. sufficient means of subsistence, when applying for a student visa.

How does it work?

You make an advance payment of your monthly living expenses into a blocked account managed by Thomas More. The minimum amount to cover your living expenses is €850 per month and is set by the Belgian government*. There is an administrative fee of €250.

Blocked account 24/25:  €850 x 5 months + 250€ administrative fee =  €4500

When you arrive in Belgium you open a Belgian bank account in your name into which you receive monthly payments during your stay with us. You will receive a double payment (€1700) the first month to cover all extra costs such as rent deposit etc.. At the end of your stay you are fully reimbursed, apart from the €250 administrative fee.

* Be aware that the monthly amount is set by the Belgian Government and is subject to change at any given time. If any changes should occur we will notify our students.

How can I apply for a blocked account?

If you want to apply for a blocked account as an exchange student, you need to contact the International Office yourself asap via incoming@thomasmore.be. They will send you the procedure via email.
Please note you should do this as soon as possible, since it takes some time to set it up.

Should your visa be refused, the blocked account will be fully refunded (€-250 administrative fee 23/24) onto the account where the money originally was transferred from.