Learning credit
As a starting student in higher education in Flanders, you receive 140 credits from the government. You will use this virtually filled backpack throughout your entire study career. Each course unit (OPO) of the study program of your Bachelor or Master has a value, expressed in credits. For each course you register for within an academic year, you will receive as many credits from your backpack as the course is worth. If you pass the exam for that OPO that academic year, the credits will return to your backpack. If you do not pass that course within that academic year, your credits will be lost. Your learning credit balance therefore reflects your study success.
How does it work?
If you choose a full-time program with 60 credits, you will receive 60 credits when you register at the beginning of the academic year. So you use 60 credits of your total learning credit balance of 140 and have 80 left. If you pass all the courses taken that academic year, the 60 credits used will be added up again. If you are registered with a diploma contract, you will receive double the first 60 credits you earn back during your study career. This is called the bonus. So if you have successfully completed exams for the 60 credits taken up in that academic year, your learning credit balance at the end of that academic year is: 80 + 60 + 60 = 200 credits. However, the credits for which you did not take a successful exam within the academic year will be lost. This also applies to the learning credit used for OPOs for which you had a deliberated or tolerated deficit. As a result, the learning credit balance with which you start the next academic year will be lower. Frequent failures can therefore also have an influence on the further course of your study career.
Negative learning credit
Students who have a negative learning credit balance after a number of years of registration in higher education, due to insufficient study progress, will not be able to (re)register at LUCA.
Annual study efficiency
The annual study efficiency (JSE) expresses as a percentage the ratio between the number of credits you have passed and the number of credits you have taken within a specific course that academic year.
You can consult your JSE via the KU Loket application, more specifically in your 'Study progress file'.
Because your JSE gives an indication of your study progress, it is also used as an instrument for a number of study progress rules:
• the milestone system
• refusal to re-register based on a low JSE, LUCA OER Art. 32;
• refusal to re-register based on repeated low JSE, LUCA OER Art. 33;
• specific refusals for students in the milestone system, LUCA OER Art. 32bis and LUCA OER Art. 33bis;
• a JSE of 50% only applies as permission to tolerate or not tolerate a course unit for non-milestone students, LUCA OER Art. 89 §2
Deliberation - Tolerance
In a bachelor's, bridging or preparatory program, you can, under certain conditions, use a tolerance for course units (OPOs) for which you obtained a slight deficit (8/20 or 9/20). This way you do not have to take the exam again for this/these course unit(s). Using tolerance is therefore a way to promote your study progress.
You can consult your tolerance file via the KU Loket application in 'My study progress file'.
If an examination committee decides for you that you have passed an OPO for which you did not obtain credit, we call this a deliberation. Deliberation takes place at LUCA from academic year 23-24 for all starting students in a BA course, who are in any case obliged to participate in the milestone system.
Conditions
You enrolled in a BA program before 23-24
You started a BA program in or after 23-24
You started in a bridging program on or after 23-24
Procedure
Your tolerance file is a tab in your 'study progress file' in KU Loket. You will find which tolerances you have previously used and whether you meet the conditions for using additional tolerances.
If you cannot yet graduate, for example because you have not yet completed all the course units of your study program or because you obtained too many or too high unsatisfactory grades in your graduation year, you will be given exactly fifteen calendar days after the examination results have been announced in June and September. to apply tolerances and to organize your tolerance file. In September, it is best to arrange your tolerance file as quickly as possible, as you will only receive the email with the invitation to re-register afterwards.
Please note: once you have definitively submitted your choices for tolerances, they can no longer be revoked. You cannot go back on your decision once you have initiated a tolerance. So think about it carefully and let your remaining tolerance credit and considerations about future possible stumbling blocks play a role in your decision. Moreover, it is better to take the re-examinations than to make a hasty decision in June. If you use a tolerance in June, you will not be allowed to take the re-examination.
Recovery of learning credit
You couldn’t participate in assessments or exams due to force majeure? You couldn’t take a catch-up exam? If this is the case, do you want to avoid losing the credits you used but were unable to regain? Then you can reclaim learning credit from the “Council for Disputes on Study Progress Decisions” (Dutch only). Technically, this can only be done at the end of the academic year, after all examination periods are over.
Please note: there is an expiry period! You must submit your petition within a three-year period, starting on 1st of September of the academic year to which your petition relates.
Procedure
You send a petition to the Council. That petition consists of a letter containing all the info the Council needs from you to decide on your application. You must provide documentary evidence to show that you were unable to take part in the exams. Supporting documents include: your results, your ISP, medical certificates stating the period of illness/absence, other evidence of force majeure such as a report from your psychologist, etc. You can find the LUCA documents via your study progress file or the self-service certificates via KU Loket.
You can find more info and a sample letter for an application on the Council for Disputes on Study Progress Decisions website. Please note that you can only submit an application in Dutch. The supporting documents must be submitted in Dutch or must include a translation into Dutch. You can submit a petition online via the digital counter or by registered mail to the Council and LUCA School of Arts. You may also submit your petition to LUCA digitally, specifically by email to your special needs assessor.
The processing of your request is done by the Council. They decide on your application and communicate with you about the procedure.
LUCA School of Arts' contact details for registered mail are:
StuVo - Attn: Joke Thuy
LUCA School of Arts
Paleizenstraat 70
1030 Brussels
Any questions?
Do you need help filling out the application? Contact your special needs assessor for support with your application. We will review your situation together.
Would you like more information on deregistering due to force majeure? Then click here. Deregistration may have consequences for your social status. Learning credits can only be reclaimed for courses for which you are registered for all examination opportunities. Under certain conditions, you can withdraw courses from your ISP, contact the learning path advisor and your special needs assessor.
Urgent need for study credit? Please note, this procedure may take some time. Are you short of learning credits and want to enrol? Contact your learning path advisor or our education administration. Click here for more info on how the learning credit system works.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact your study counselor or contact the education administration. More information about how the learning account works can be found on this web page of the Flemish government.