UCLouvain and the University of Belgrade have been Circle U. partners since the alliance was founded. Over six years, the two institutions have built strong academic ties, and they keep growing. On 25 May 2026, on the occasion of the Circle U. General Assembly in Belgrade, the Economics School of Louvain and the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Belgrade formalised a new cooperation agreement, opening concrete opportunities for students on both sides.
The timing feels significant. For several months now, Serbia has been the stage of a powerful student and academic movement standing up for university autonomy, academic freedom and democratic values, a movement that has been followed and supported with solidarity across the Circle U. alliance. Signing an academic partnership in this context is not incidental: it is a reminder that European university cooperation is most meaningful precisely when it is sustained through difficult times.
Two pathways, one shared programme
The agreement launches a joint Master's programme in Quantitative Finance, with two distinct pathways depending on the direction of mobility.
Students from the University of Belgrade follow a full double degree: two years of English-taught training, the first in Belgrade and the second at UCLouvain in Louvain-la-Neuve, leading to degrees from both institutions. Notably, Belgrade students will not be required to pay tuition fees during their year in Belgium, a deliberate choice to make international education accessible to top-performing students. UCLouvain students, for their part, can spend a full academic year in Belgrade through a structured exchange track in Quantitative Finance and Economics, returning with a certificate from the Faculty of Economics and Business.
The first cohort will enrol in the 2026/27 academic year.
A programme built for today's world
Quantitative Finance sits at the crossroads of economics, mathematics and data science, fields in high demand across the financial sector, central banks, international institutions and academia alike. The programme is designed to combine rigorous analytical training with a genuinely international experience, preparing graduates to work and think across borders.
The Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Belgrade brings strong credentials to this partnership: EFMD-accredited since 2021, it already runs double degree programmes with the London School of Economics and the Free University of Berlin, and holds the largest portfolio of international double degrees of any institution in Serbia.
What Circle U. makes possible
This programme did not emerge from nowhere. It is the result of years of patient work by academic coordinators from both institutions, built on personal connections, shared research interests and the trust that comes from being part of the same alliance. Circle U. provided the framework and the momentum for those relationships to turn into something real.
It is a tangible example of the impact Circle U. can have when partnership turns into practice.
