The Belgian higher education system comprises university and non-university higher education institutions. 

In Belgium, a distinction is made between short-cycle programmes (type court / kort) and long-cycle programmes (type long / lang). Short-cycle programmes (professionally qualifying Bachelor’s degrees, 3 to 4 years) prepare students directly for professional practice, whereas long-cycle programmes (two-cycle structure, Bachelor + Master) follow an academic pathway and are designed to lead to further studies. 

In the German-speaking Community of Belgium, there is only one non-university higher education institution: the Autonome Hochschule Ostbelgien (Dekret zur Schaffung einer Autonomen Hochschule von 2005).  

The Autonome Hochschule is an institution of public interest and does not belong to any traditional school provider (State, Community, municipalities, provinces, or church-based providers). All school providers active in the German-speaking Community are represented on the board.

At higher education level, the Autonome Hochschule (AHS) offers short-cycle degree programmes (ISCED 6) in three subject areas:

• Bachelor of Kindergarten Education (Department of Educational Sciences)
• Bachelor of Education in Primary Education (Department of Educational Sciences)
• Bachelor in Health and Nursing Sciences (Department of Health, Nursing and Social Sciences)
• Bachelor in Social Work (Department of Health, Nursing and Social Sciences)

In cooperation with the Zentrum für Aus- und Weiterbildung des Mittelstandes (ZAWM), the Autonome Hochschule organises three dual Bachelor’s degree programmes in the department of financial and administrative sciences: Accounting, Insurance Brokerage, and Public and Business Administration. In this context, “dual” means that, upon completion of their studies, students obtain both a Bachelor’s degree (at higher education level) and a Master Craftsman’s degree (at the level of dual vocational training). The dual degree programmes include a substantial proportion of company-based (and remunerated) practical training. 

At secondary school level, the AHS offers a graduate programme in Health and Nursing Sciences as well as a preparatory year aimed at obtaining the vocational upper secondary school leaving certificate (Abitur) before an external examination board. 

As a result of the federal reform of the health professions in 2023, the professional profile in nursing was fundamentally redesigned. With the introduction of the new profession “Krankenpflegeassistent/-in”, the need for an adapted training programme has emerged at the same time. In the Flemish Community, this programme has already been offered since 2023. Within the framework of its reform of the nursing education portfolio, the French Community created the necessary conditions in September 2025 for the new programme “Assistant en soins infirmiers (AeSi)” to start in September 2026. The new, autonomous nursing profession has a clearly defined scope of independent clinical responsibility, as laid down in the Königlicher Erlass zur Festlegung der Liste der technischen Leistungen der Krankenpflege im Zusammenhang mit dem Pflegeassistenten sowie ihrer Ausübungsbedingungen of September 2023.

In light of developments in the other two Belgian Communities as well as at federal level, a new German-language training programme for Basiskrankenpfleger/-in (BKP) is now also to be introduced in the near future in the German-speaking Community – at the Autonome Hochschule Ostbelgien. In line with the decisions taken by the other two Belgian Communities, this new programme is expected to be classified at education level 5 (ISCED 5). In addition to the precise designation of this new programme, many detailed aspects are currently still under clarification. 

Furthermore, the Autonome Hochschule offers continuing professional development for teaching staff and nursing professionals and is actively involved in the fields of “research” and “development”.