After Class Life

Student Representatives at the POC (Permanent Education Commission)

The POC is a consultative body at the Faculty of Law, Criminological Sciences. The meetings of the POC are chaired by a Programme Director, but the complete meeting consists of professors, assistants and students. POC meetings are held monthly.

It is the duty of the POC to guard the curriculum and to permanently oversee the quality of the education. Much attention is given to the opinion and problems experienced by students. The POC guards and controls, for example, the overall workload of students and measures the study time for given courses. The student representatives defend the interests of the students and, in this manner, pass on student concerns about education issues or the management of the programme to the academic staff and educational support services.

The voices of international students are very relevant in improving the policy of the criminology programme in the future, so please report any difficulties, suggestions or uncertainties to the student representative of the master year. If the student representative is unknown, do not hesitate to ask fellow students or teachers.

Language

Although Flemish students will feel more comfortable speaking Dutch with each other, the average Flemish student is usually able to speak English. This characteristic is actually true for almost everyone in Leuven.
Living at the meeting point of Europe's three major cultural groups (Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and Latin) has enhanced the Flemish people’s language skills. Many speak up to four languages fluently. Belgium, for example, has three official languages (Flemish, French and German), with English representing  a "virtual" fourth. Especially for younger people in Flanders, English constitutes the first and most fluent foreign language.

Student Union at LINC

Praesidium

In Flanders, student societies play a unique role in student life. They have traditionally been politically active, and played a significant part in the 1960s division of the Catholic University of Leuven into separate Flemish and Walloon universities. These days, student societies are more focused on organising parties, cantus, and cultural activities. A student society in Belgium is led by a presidium, with every presidium having its own escutcheon.

Although criminology is situated in the broader Faculty of Law, the study of Criminology has its own student society, called Crimen. These student unions are elected during an election week. In this week, candidate presidia create a lot of publicity for themselves. The election week is usually held at the end of May or the beginning of April, in which Leuven is the scene of several events, including beer for free festivals, parties, inter-student union competitions, etc. These festivities promote candidate presidia and win votes for the organiser’s team.

Student Unions organise several events each year:

• A prom: a ball with a strict dress code (tuxedo for males and fancy dresses for females);
• Several canti: in summary, a feast with a lot of drinking and singing; and
• Several TD’s: TD is the abbreviation of the French thé dansant and is frequently used as reference to a student party.

Next to these events, the presidium organises a variety of other parties, sports and cultural events.

Flemish Buddy’s

At the beginning of the year, the student union organizes a buddy-evening for international students. International students will be appointed a local student to guide them in finding their way in the academic world of the Criminological context. They can be considered a student’s walking encyclopaedia. If a student has questions about courses, exams and student life in general, he can always ask his/her Buddy.

Fakbar

Every student union and student group has its own fakbar (Faculty Bar). This bar is where students studying the same field meet regularly and organise many of their parties. Criminology students are based out of Kaffee Weirdo's, Naamsestraat 35, 3000 Leuven.

Dining at Alma

At the home faculty of LINC, the Faculty of law, there is a small Alma which is called “The Academic Quarter.” It is a little Alma restaurant situated on the ground floor of the New Falcon and is one of the favourite places of law and criminology students. At one o’ clock, the restaurant can be filled with hungry students enjoying an inexpensive, but tasteful, meal.

You can find diffrent Alma, budget friendly, restaurants in Leuven. Check it out on this webpage.