Exact numbers for the new intake are not yet available, but universities have seen growth of 5% a year in recent years and are preparing for the same increase this year. In West Flanders, that means keeping the student restaurants open all day to ease the lunchtime pressure, renting parking spaces from the private sector and extending the lecture day by one hour. In Ghent, a new auditorium has been inaugurated, and the college is eyeing other sites for new buildings. The Catholic College Bruges- Ostend moved to a new campus, but already that space is too small.

“It’s very odd, because there were fewer children born 18 years ago,” said Filip Clarisse, communications director of the University College of Brussels. “The intake remains unbelievably high. Today we saw our 1,000th new student, and we’ve already exceeded the numbers for last year.”

According to André Oosterlinck, director of the Catholic University of Leuven Association, a group of 13 institutions of higher education in Flanders, the problem is not so much the number of new students, but the direction they take when they arrive. “Everyone talks about the knowledge economy,” he said. “For that reason education is crucial, so we need to strive to have as many people as possible studying. Internationally we’re nowhere near the top in that area. We don’t have too many students; we have too few in the right disciplines: engineering and science, trained in skills the jobs market is crying out for.”

To guide students (and parents) in their choice, Oosterlinck has proposed cutting the fees for some courses in half or scrapping them altogether, while doubling the fees for other courses. “Double fees would still be lower than what is being asked in other countries,” Oosterlinck pointed out. Flemish universities came fourth in a 2005 study on the affordability of higher education in developed counties, after Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands.

Another idea gaining traction is an entry test, which would help reduce the problem of the number of students who drop out or change direction after their first year. Students would not only be guided towards a more suitable discipline for them, but also steered into areas the university considers important.

For Carl Devos, professor of politics at the University of Ghent, the entry exam would work better on a voluntary basis, as a guide for incoming students rather than an instrument of policy.

“The mass is still manageable for the time being, but the day will come when we have to start cutting into what our limited staff numbers can provide,” he said. “There are not only more students, they’re also more demanding. They quite rightly look for more feedback.”

The technology industry federation Agoria is keeping a running total of students who have signed up for courses in engineering, industrial sciences and technology at 19 higher education establishments in Flanders. Last year a total of 6,343 students opted for the courses covered – “far too few” for the needs of business, according to Agoria. As Flanders Today went to press, the running total stood at 2,832, far short of the targeted 9,000.