The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has been ranked the sixth most popular international university worldwide in a study based on internet searches.
Financial services company Remitly analysed global search data to determine which universities had the highest number of searches outside of the country in which the institution is based. The study's findings reveal that US campuses pique the most interest among prospective students considering going abroad.
However, one Belgian institution also made it to the global top ten: VUB came in sixth place, amassing over 2.6 million searches globally over the past 12 months. The university is spread over four campuses in Brussels and has a track record for internationalism.
In October last year, the institution noted a "striking" jump (20%) in the number of enrolments to its Bachelor's programmes offered in English. Around two thirds of this subgroup are non-Belgian students, and VUB says the trend points to its "international appeal".
VUB's prominence in the Remitly study does not correspond to other university ranking systems based on factors other than international interest, such as the list compiled by higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) every year.
The latest QS rankings place four Belgian universities among the top 100 in Europe: the Catholic University of Leuven (KU Leuven) in 27th place, the University of Ghent (UGent) in 47th place, UCLouvain in 75th and ULB in 94th. In this ranking, VUB was named 114 in Europe.
The only Belgian university to enter the global top 100 under the QS ranking was KU Leuven, coming in 63rd place (down from 61 the previous year, which at the time was an upward leap of ten places).
