MARC HANSEN
Delegated Minister to Higher Education and Research
Education & Research / Luxembourg
“42% of Luxembourg students are enrolled in Master’s or PhD programs”
The development of Luxembourg’s higher education system offers sophisticated study and research opportunities in a diverse international atmosphere in the heart of Europe, says Marc Hansen, Delegated Minister to Higher Education and Research, Minister of Housing
How is the government increasing support for education?
The government’s two-pillar strategy gives financial aid and loans, now totaling €111 million. We have a student population of 7,000 students and 42% of Luxembourg students are enrolled in Master’s or PhD programs. Luxembourg University’s recent relocation to the Belval site underlines governmental commitment to investments in more research infrastructure. Indeed, as a unique research and innovation hub, Luxembourg is one of Europe’s most prestigious educational ecosystems.
Is Luxembourg attracting international students?
Yes. Our students represent 110 nationalities; almost 80% of our PhD students are foreign. We use German, French and English, and institutions offer courses in languages used locally. We offer a high quality of life, and a central location; we’re two hours by train from Brussels, Cologne, Strasbourg and Paris. We also host many EU institutions and big multinationals.
Where does the country rank and compete with other European universities?
We are 179th in the latest Times Higher Education World University Ranking, and 11th in their Young University Rankings 2017. Each university has unique advantages; ours include a multicultural society and strong international networks. An EU report shows that in 2016, 84.5% of students aged 20–34 had found jobs within 3 years of graduation.
How is the education sector helping diversify the local economy?
We target new technologies, life sciences and logistics. Our universities offer value-added economic research in materials sciences, biomedicine and digital sciences.
What type of research centers does Luxembourg provide?
The Luxembourg National Research Fund supports the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, the Luxembourg Institute of Health, and the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research. Luxembourg University also has the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, and the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History.
How do you cooperate abroad, especially with US companies and institutions?
The EURAXESS program informs researchers on projects, housing and social benefits. Researchers, PhDs and post-docs also enjoy competitively-paid work, social security, pensions, modern research facilities, and work with leading companies. Our PEARL program attracts known researchers, while our ATTRACT program attracts others who could be new leaders. The University’s Luxembourg Centre for Logistics and Supply Chain Management works with MIT. The National Research Fund’s INTER program finances mobility and exchanges between our public research institutions and top researchers abroad, as with the US National Science Foundation, and a program offering INTER mobility grants for exchanges with UC Berkeley. Public research institutions also work with NASA. Advanced students can work on R&D with the Goodyear Innovation Center Luxembourg, and DuPont, Ampacet, Husky, Arcelor-Mittal, Amazon, Paypal and Cisco are other big multinationals which have research cooperation with us.
