One of Belgium's finest universities, KU Leuven (KUL), is expanding and improving its lifelong learning options by introducing KU Leuven Continue.
The first courses to be released are for those who have work experience but want to explore topics in more depth, specifically in the fields of care, agriculture and sustainability.
For the past two years, lifelong learning courses could be found on the website, but the collection is now being streamlined into KU Leuven Continue, which was launched on Monday.
The KU Leuven Association, which includes five colleges and KUL, launched the website 'Ik blijf bij' (I'm keeping up) at the end of November 2021. There are over 1,000 courses on the website and since its launch, enrolments have increased by 10% annually, with over 5,000 registrations in the last academic year.
Expand on existing knowledge
With KU Leuven Continue, the Association is going one step further. KU Leuven Continue will be a separate entity, with programming courses and subjects for people who already have work experience and either want to learn something new or expand on their existing knowledge. "We want to offer more than just Bachelor's and Master's [degrees]," explained Luc Sels, chancellor of KU Leuven. "There is a great need today to keep renewing oneself."
The initial courses on offer focus on three domains: care and care technology, food and agriculture, and sustainability and energy. "Take someone who has followed the classical route of medicine," Sels said. "That person might want to get more into data science or medical technology innovations after 15 years of working. For them, Continue is an ideal organisation."
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Some courses from the existing Bachelor's and Master's programmes are being opened up to adults who want lifelong learning. In fact, 50% of the attendees of the 'Global Challenges for a Sustainable Society' course are external students this year – the rest being KUL students. Within Continue, collaborations are also being set up between the six institutions, and more courses are due to be released soon.
