In 1995 HOWEST University became a single autonomous Higher Education Institution because of a merger of six prominent institutions of higher education in Flanders. Since then the development within HOWEST University has taken on a fresh impetus and we are now one of the leading providers of higher education and research institute in the country.

Today more than 5.000 full-time students are enrolled at HOWEST University pursuing 22 Bachelors and 7 Masters covering a wide range of disciplines. HOWEST University consists of 1 department situated in Brugge (Bruges) and 2 in Kortrijk. Students will find here an open, vibrant, cosmopolitan and friendly environment that offers a wealth of educational opportunities, with emphasis on high quality and practice-oriented courses.
HOWEST University has a growing international reputation, as are the opportunities it offers to students to do part of their studies abroad.

The research groups have a clear focus on the industry. Therefore, HOWEST University has many R&D-Projects with industrial companies, both large enterprises and SMEs.
The commitment to joining education with the creation of knowledge provides a fertile setting for research that has spawned a host of innovation breakthroughs in applications, with a leverage of more than 80 million Euro. All R&D-projects emerge from innovation objectives from companies.

59% of our R&D-activities are by order of SMEs, 27% by order of large enterprises and 14% by industrial branch representatives.
HOWEST University has an academic and industrial network in a lot of countries like USA, Canada, Mexico, Guinea, Russia, Israel, China, India, and all European countries.