Our latest Education in Belgium article looks at a response to the absence of a European School for the general public in Brussels.
It is on the historical grounds of the Château d’Argenteuil, located 15 kilometers from Brussels, that EEBA is located. EEBA is an international school offering education from nursery to secondary according to the multilingual curriculum of the European Schools. As the first accredited school in Belgium since 2016 and the fourteenth in Europe, this growing school shows how well the European school model is adapted to the growing need for multilingualism in Brussels and corresponds to families whose parents often come from different countries. European schools facilitate integration, openness and respect for other cultures among other things, through language learning by native teachers.
A European School open to all
The opening of EEBA has made it possible to open a fifth European school in Brussels in response to the current overcrowding in the current four schools. In addition, it meets the objective of the European Parliament to open the European Baccalaureate to students other than those of the European Schools.
Unlike the four European Schools already established in Brussels, EEBA offers the particularity of welcoming all students regardless of whether their parents are employed or not by the European institutions. In doing so, it offers a solution to a form of discrimination in the European capital between pupils with a foreign mother tongue, which has long been pointed out as a problem by parents’ associations. The European School of Bruxelles-Argenteuil has made Belgium a pioneer in terms of European education by becoming the fourteenth accredited European School in Europe and by opening up the system.There are today 20 accredited European Schools in Europe.
A real demand
The rapid growth of the European School of Bruxelles-Argenteuil, which has more than 300 pupils after just five years of opening to the public, demonstrates the existence of a real and consistent demand from families within this segment of the school sector. Many families who have been attracted to the European capital through their work have by joining EEBA got the opportunity to integrate into the Belgian landscape while still meeting the requirements of an international career in the various member countries of the Union. This campus is a daily living demonstration of the values of multiculturalism and multilingualism which are the foundation of the European Union.
Significant economic benefits and growth in terms of employment
The success of the European School of Bruxelles-Argenteuil largely demonstrates the relevance of the accredited European Schools model in the Brussels-Capital region. In addition to the significant economic benefits of this growth in terms of employment (the school currently employs around fifty full-time employees), numerous partnerships with the municipality, as well as with sports and cultural centers, have made an important contribution to local growth, through house rentals by families, visits to restaurants, various shops and medical centers.
The regional economy benefits from the families that the school brings to the region, many of whom choose to settle down near the school they have previously chosen for their children.
The European Baccalaureate, the International Baccalaureate and the CESS
Facing promising growth, EEBA has decided to expand its offer in terms of educational programs delivered to the school’s students, so that they can choose the program that suits them best.
Thus, EEBA is offering access to the following programs to its students as from September:
- the European program
- the International program
- the Belgian program
Fee reduction and study grants
EEBA has kept its commitment to grant reductions in tuition fees, total or partial, in order to allow students whose families are not able to pay a tuition fee, to benefit from its educational system.
You should know that a student costs any school, subsidized or not, around 12,000 to 16,000 euros. The choice of the school, a non-profit association, is to maintain a pricing policy adapted to costs.
Great ambitions
EEBA doesn’t stop there. Other projects are in development. A day-care facility (crèche) should be created on the school site in the future. The school is also committed to becoming a green school. Thanks to its permaculture project which began this year, 150 fruit trees have already been planted.
www.europeanschool.be
