Training leave &
study credit
Belgium has more than one system for combining work and study. One gives you paid time off to follow training while employed. The other tracks your progress if you're pursuing a full higher-education diploma.
This page explains Flemish educational leave (Vlaams opleidingsverlof) and how study credit (leerkrediet) works if you're studying for a diploma alongside your job.
Overview
If you just want to follow a course or training while keeping your job, Vlaams opleidingsverlof (VOV) is the relevant system - it gives you paid leave from your employer to attend. If you're enrolling in a full bachelor's or master's programme at a Flemish university or university college, you'll also encounter leerkrediet, a credit system that Flemish higher education uses to track study progress, regardless of whether you're studying alongside a job or not.
Vlaams opleidingsverlof: paid leave to train
Vlaams opleidingsverlof lets employees take paid leave to follow an approved training, up to a personal maximum number of hours per school year. How many hours you're entitled to depends on your employment percentage, and the system is being reformed for the school year starting 1 September 2026, so the rules differ depending on when you take the leave.
Under the current rules (school year 2025-2026), you generally need to work at least 80% of a full-time role, and at least 28 hours a week, to qualify. From September 2026, this changes to a simpler threshold: at least 50% employment, with no separate weekly-hours condition. Weekend workers, who were previously excluded, will also become eligible, though an additional condition around overlapping hours applies to them specifically.
A few other things are changing at the same time. From September 2026, you'll only be able to follow the same training once under VOV, rather than twice, except in cases of force majeure. Not every higher-education programme will keep qualifying either - it's worth checking the official training database before you commit to a course, since eligibility is narrowing.
Because your personal maximum depends on your specific employment situation, the most reliable way to check your entitlement is the official VOV simulator, which asks a few questions and calculates your maximum hours directly
Studying for a diploma while working
If you're working towards a bachelor's or master's degree at a Flemish university or university college, you'll be enrolled with a leerkrediet: a starting balance of 140 study credits that acts as a running check on your study progress. Enrolling in course components uses up credits from this balance; passing them gives the credits back, while failing them (after your second exam attempt) means you lose them. Foreign students receive the same leerkrediet as Belgian and Flemish students, so this applies to you too.
Running low on leerkrediet can affect your ability to keep enrolling, so it's designed to encourage realistic study choices rather than repeatedly enrolling in components you're not completing. For most people who are progressing reasonably through their studies, it isn't something you need to actively manage.
If attending regular classes alongside a job isn't realistic, it's worth knowing about the exam contract (examencontract): a self-study option where you only take the exams for a programme, without a right to attend lectures. It generally doesn't require leerkrediet at all, which makes it a common route for working adults completing a diploma part-time. You pass each course component with a mark of 10 out of 20, and once you've obtained a credit certificate for every component, you qualify for the diploma. Tuition for an exam contract is a fixed fee plus a variable amount per credit, and you'll need to arrange it directly with the institution before its enrolment deadline.
Good to know: if you're planning training around the September 2026 changes to Vlaams opleidingsverlof, check the official simulator and the training database before you commit - your entitlement and which courses qualify may both be different from what applied a year earlier.
Sources
- Vlaanderen.be - Belangrijke wijzigingen Vlaams opleidingsverlof vanaf 1 september 2026
- Vlaanderen.be - Simulator Vlaams opleidingsverlof
- Vlaanderen.be - Leerkrediet
- Vlaanderen.be - Diploma of creditbewijzen hoger onderwijs behalen via een examencontract
