Master in Statistics, ULB, 2024-2025

General information about study at ULB

• in English

General information about the masters in the faculty of science

• in French
• in English
• General information for students, faculty of sciences (in French)
• General information from the faculty, including student information (in English)

General information about the master of statistics

• Official site of the University with the program, access conditions, list of all courses (English)
• Official site of the University with the program, access conditions, list of all courses(French)

Admission

General policy

• Our master in statistics offers a thorough study of methods and results in statistics, well founded by a mathematical and theoretical development of the material. This explains why prospective students should have solid background in mathematics and the general exact scientific way of thinking.
• Students with strong mathematical background can opt for a further development in theoretical and mathematical statistics. A full English program can be composed.
• It is also possible to focus on econometry and business statistics. This option can completed in English.

In practice

• Students with bachelor's degree in mathematics from a Belgian, French speaking university are admitted automatically upon registration with the university
• All other prospective students must apply through
  • Enrolment/Registration (French:Inscription) with a link to the online application for
  • Information for foreign students (English)
  • Mind the deadlines for application. They depend on your countries of citizenship and residence. For non-EU residents or citizens, dealines may be as early as April 30. Check the enrolment deadline page.
• We do select on the basis of your previous results. That means that your CV should be above average in order to be admitted.
• In particular (1): Students with a (proven) solid background in mathematics and good CV will be allowed with no further restrictions to the master of statistics.
• In particular (2): students holding a bachelor in exact sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, geography, geology, ...), (bio-)engineering or bachelor in management from the ULB (or any other equivalent degree from another university), may be asked to include an additional course MATH-F-207 on Mathematical Statistics in the fall term of the first year. The total credits to be completed in two years is then 125 instead of 120. This additional course is taught in French. If you feel your French is insufficient for taking this course, an alternative solution can be worked out.
• In particular (3): students without a degree listed in (2) are generally discouraged or not admitted.
• Tuition fees: See this page
• For all practical and administrative questions about application and enrolment, please contact the general university administration, see here or here

Your individual program

Important remarks:

• The forms on linked on this page can also be found on the faculty's intrascience pages. It may happen that the forms on this page are outdated (last year's forms). If the version on this pages has a filename with last year (or earlier) in it, then doublecheck with the intrascience pages for the most recent version. Do not ask me whether new versions are available.
• In general, the jury of professors assesses your individual program on an academic basis only. If you have administrative questions, (rules and regulations) then contact the department's or faculty's secretary office.

General structure of the program:

• Compulsary courses on basic statistics, taught in English
• Two modules to chose from
  • Statistics: some courses taught in English, others (officially) in French
  • Econometrics: taught in English
• Two specialisations/groups to chose from (in principle any combination with modules is possible)
  • Mathematical/theoretical statistics: most courses taught in English, a few (officially) in French
  • Quantitatve economics: Everything in English
• Optional courses

Composing your program

• Check the available courses in the program.
• If the number of credits in your program has been fixed to 125 (instead of 120), this means you must include the course MATH-F-207. (This is called a PC, complementary prorgram - programme complémentaire) If you think MATH-F-207 has nothing new to you, you may choose to replace/substitute by another course, but this has to be motivated.
• Compulsary courses: new students take the compulsary courses from unit 1/bloc 1 only. Compulsary courses from unit 1/bloc 2 (except the thesis; see below) can be taken if at least one of the compulsary courses of bloc 1 has been finished or if you are exempt from following it.
• Choose one of the two modules and one of the three groups
  • All courses from Module 1 OR all course from Module 2
  • Theoretical Statistics (Statistique théorique) (all courses)
    OR
    Economy and Statistics (Economie et statistique) (all courses)
• Add optional courses so that your PAE has at least 60 credits. It can be a bit more than 60, but not too much. Taking too much wouldn't help you anyway, as in the second year, you need to take again at least 60 credits.
• In case you still have to take courses from a Bachelor's program at ULB (typically Ba-Math), it is forbidden to have a program, Bachelor's and Master's combined, of more than 60 credits (see Ba15 programs)
• You can take course from outside the list above, but this requires approval of the jury. Carefully follow the steps below.

Main principle: your anual program must total exactly 60 ects

More than 60 ects

Reduced annual credit program (French: Allégement)

Re-balancing your program

Exemptions (French: previously dispenses, now: valorisations)

• You already have taken that course within the framework of another Master study at ULB.
• You have had a similar course in a Master study outside ULB. In that case, you need to contact the course teacher for every course separately (so, NOT the jury) to obtain his/her approval of exemptions. Take this form with you and have it signed by the course teacher.

• Valorisations can be applied for upon entering the program only. So if this is your second registration as Ma-Stat student, no more valorisations!
• Similar courses or even the very same course followed in a Bachelor's study cannot be validated (valorisé). These courses need to be substituted by another course.
  • In particular, students with a degree of Ba-Math at ULB have taken the course MATH-F-302 (probabilité-II), which largely overlaps with STAT-F-407 (Stochastic models). These students need to take another course instead of STAT-F-407.
  • Students who have had MATH-F-309 in their bachelor need to take another course instead.
• Once you have exemptions for a total of 45 credits or more, you are eligible to propose a PAE of 75 credits, thereby completing the master.
• If you have exemptions from outside ULB for more than 60 credits, you still need to complete at least 60 credits in one year.
• You are responsible for the paper work related to exemptions. The jury will not do this for you. Contact the faculty's desk and use this form.
• In any case, the jury of Ma-Stat will not grant an exemption for an optional course: you will be asked to take other courses instead. In particular, you cannot take an optional course if you have taken that course already in another Master or Bachelor at ULB.
• The master thesis can never be exempt. If you follow two masters at-a-time, the jury of Ma-Stat will never allow you to submit the same thesis for the two masters. So, two masters always means two theses!

Formalities and procedure

• Step 0: compose your program. You do not need teacher's approvals for including their course as an optional course (you do need the jury's approval, though). You do need the teacher's approaval for exemptions!
• Step 1: download and fill in this form for your complete program and this form for optional courses and have them signed by the president of the jury for validation by 15 October
• Step 2: If you want to include courses outside ULB, fill in the "mobility form". This is for insurance reasons. Have it signed, both by ULB and host institution. Make sure the form shows a clear contact address at the host institution (including e-mail) (Otherwise, we cannot know the grade obtained for this course) Hand in three copies to the students' secretary office. For courses at UC Louvain or KU Leuven, also check this form (last year's version; new version not yet available) Keep in mind that registration at KU Leuven close very early.
• Step 3 if applicable: approvals of exemptions by the course teachers must be provided upon approval of the individual program. Fill in this form.
• Step 4: introduce your approved choices online through the Mon ULB interface.
  In case the online form didn't work, tell the secretary, in order to have it introduced for you by the secretary office
• More information on the rules can be found on the faculty's intrascience pages

Class schedules, class rooms, exam schedule, etc.

• General site

Exam regulations

• general university and faculty regulations can be found in the faculty's intrascience pages
• Exams are graded on a scale of 0 to 20; 10 to 20 = pass; 0 to 9.99 = fail
• Every course has two exams a year: fall courses have exams in January, spring course have exams in June. If you fail, there is second session in August for all courses. Registration for the 2nd session is NOT automatic! (If you fail to register, the administration will assume that you have given up for this year)
  This holds ALSO if you only have to finish your thesis!!
• Each year, the jury meets twice (end of June, beginning of September) for deliberation. In principle, the jury may decide to credit you (=let you pass) for a course for which you obtained less than 10, if the overall results are good. The Ma-Stat jury is not keen on doing so: in principle you will have to retake all courses for which you have not obtained 10/20.
• If you do not finish within a given number of years, you become a "non-financiable student", meaning that the university may still enroll you, but you will not count in the number of students defining how much money the university gets from the government. As a result, the university may not admit you, based on several considerations, including the jury's advice. If you do not show up in the August session before becoming "non-financiable", the jury's advice will always be negative.

Seminars

The master's thesis (MEMO-F-521)

Internships (Stages)

Further information

• Occasional announcements (seminars, jobs, internships)