As one of its contributions to development co-operation, KU Leuven offers each academic year scholarships to deserving students from developing countries to do their PhD in the largest university in Flanders, Belgium.
Also commonly referred to as the IRO scholarships (IRO in Dutch stands for Interfacultaire Raad voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking), this scholarship programme has supported more than sixty Ph.D. graduates over the past five years. After obtaining their doctorates at KU Leuven, these Ph.D. holders are now valorising their degrees in their home countries either in university academic research or in various sectors of industry.
Essential to the application for the IRO scholarship and to completing a doctoral programme successfully is the choice of a good doctoral research topic and supervisor. New applicants are now provided two alternatives: either by selecting amongst the faculty research topics offered by the doctoral schools or by submitting their own personal research proposal.