Gent is a cosy city with water canals, a lot of churches and a great castle, offering an exciting medieval atmosphere. Join the lively student population, the explore the equally interesting modern art scene and the great festivals in Gent. The local university in Gent focuses on research training, and the professionally oriented colleges, as well as other higher educational institutions offer a broad scale of study degrees. Gent is a city and a municipality located in the Flemish Region of Belgium, the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, having over 240,000 inhabitants.
Gent has the third largest port of Belgium, and the city attracts companies especially from the steel and car industries, but also several research-oriented firms. Other important sectors creating economic growth in Gent are tourism, organic agriculture, and textile production.
Big companies with local offices are: Arcelor Mittal, Volvo Cars, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Parts, Honda, Stora Enso, PWC, Nuance, and Bayer.
While studying in the city you may discover attractive internship opportunities in local or international companies.
Gent is the perfect city for artists and art fans in general. The place is an architectural feast, where long promenades in the city, admiring the amasing buildings will be the kind of activity you won’t get enough.
Gent’s symbol is the Castle of the Counts (Gravensteen) - a medieval castle, situated in the middle of the city, having a splendid architecture along the old Graslei harbour. Other sites worth visiting are: the Saint Bavo Cathedral with the Ghent Altarpiece and the belfry, the Saint-Jacob's church, the Saint-Nicolas' church and the Saint Michael's church. Interesting museums are: the Museum voor Schone Kunsten (Museum of Fine Arts), the Design Museum Ghent, and the Gent City Museum.
The city hosts music festivals or events like the ten-day-long "Gent Festival" (Ghentse Feesten), held every year and attended by about 1.5 million visitors. You can also go to ‘I Love Techno in Flanders’ Expo, "10 Days Off" musical festival, or even check out the International Film Festival of Ghent.
If you’re into sports, the Six Days of Flanders, a six-day track cycling race, is held annually, taking place in the Kuipke velodrome in Gent.
You should also not miss a cruise on the canals, a good way to view the city's highlights.
Whenever you feel the need to change the scenery, Brussels is only a 30-minute train ride away.
Gent includes a fascinating combination of foreigners, especially artists, among local people. Ethnic communities include people coming from: Bulgaria, Slovakia, Turkey, African countries and more. In Ghent, everybody feels like home, as locals are very tolerant and open-minded regarding other cultures.
Due to Gent’s interesting location, support for innovation and simple inclusion policies, the city provides an efficient economy, which makes it an attractive destination for social entrepreneurs and business people.
Average maximum temperatures in Gent in January are around 6°C (43°F) and the hottest months are July and August with an average of 21°C (70°F). In Gent, all four seasons Gently cross into each other and are often difficult to distinguish.
Vlerick Business School is a top European management school, with campuses in Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven, Belgium, and St-Petersburg, Russia. Our School is one of a select group of institutions in the world to hold all 3 of the major international accreditations relevant to the world of management education: EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB.
Today, KU Leuven is Belgium’s largest and highest-ranked university as well as one of the most renowned universities in Europe. As a leading European research university, KU Leuven offers a wide variety of programmes in English.
Vlerick Business School is a top European management school, with campuses in Brussels, Ghent, and Leuven, Belgium, and St-Petersburg, Russia. Our School is one of a select group of institutions in the world to hold all 3 of the major international accreditations relevant to the world of management education: EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB.
EIT RawMaterials is part of EIT, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, a body of the European Union. EIT RawMaterials brings together partners from industry, research and education with a vision to develop raw materials into a major strength for Europe. The EIT Label is a certificate of quality that is awarded to excellent graduate programmes, creating the innovators of the future.
Ghent University is a top 100 university founded in 1817. As one of the major universities in Belgium, our 11 faculties offer a wide range of courses and conduct in-depth research in both exact and social sciences.
We are one of 22 university colleges ('hogescholen') in Flanders. University College Ghent has more than 14,000 students, ca. 1,800 staff members. This critical mass allows us to offer additional services and opportunities, such as professional units for communication, culture and internationalisation.