Address: 58-60 Rue de l’Étuve, 1000 Brussels, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Journalism, Public Relations, Advertising
Haute École Galilée is a Belgian Catholic higher education institution belonging to the subsidized free confessional network of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, located in the heart of Brussels. It was restructured in 2023 when several of its departments merged with EPHEC, and now operates solely through its founding institute IHECS (Institut des Hautes Études des Communications Sociales), which was established in Tournai in 1958 and relocated to Brussels city center in 1990.
IHECS is widely recognized as one of Belgium’s leading schools for journalism and communication, combining rigorous theoretical foundations with intensive practical media training across four buildings steps away from the Grand Place.
Domains taught:
Ergonomics and UX, Project Management, Signal Processing, Software Engineering, Statistics
Diplomas*:
Bachelor, Master
Status:
Private
Partnerships:
Member of EJTA (European Journalism Training Association), Théophraste Network (global federation of francophone journalism schools), AUF (Agence universitaire de la francophonie), EUPRERA (European Public Relations Education and Research Association); co-diploma agreements with UCLouvain and Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB); over 110 institutional partners worldwide across Europe, Flanders, and outside Europe via Erasmus+, Erasmus Belgica, and Mercury/FAME mobility funds.
Research:
Protagoras think tank bridges academic research and professional political and public communication; research collaborations with ULB (ReSIC/Lasco), Sorbonne Paris IV, ISTC France, Artevelde Hogeschool Ghent, FHWien, and Sapienza Rome; topics include media studies, political communication, digital communication, argumentation, and media education.
Famous Alumnis:
N/A
International recognition**:
Number of staff***:
200
Current students***:
2200
Foreign students***:
10%
Cumulative former students***:
35000
Pros
Strong practical training with professional-grade studios and equipment; prime Brussels location near EU institutions; extensive international network with 110 partner institutions; project-based pedagogy with real professional experience; co-diplomas with major Belgian universities.
Cons
Primarily French-language instruction limiting accessibility for non-francophone students; narrow disciplinary focus on communication and media only; relatively small institution with limited infrastructure diversity; no STEM or technical programs.
Best For
Students seeking a career in journalism, communication, public relations, advertising, or media management in a francophone European context.
In terms of fields, Université de Namur is the nearest neighbour, with statistics and software engineering again at the core; it covers bioinformatics and nanotechnologies as well, and is far larger, with about 7,000 students against roughly 2,200 here.
Haute École Libre Mosane is the closest domestic counterpart for software engineering; it is also a private institution and runs the same bachelor's and master's programmes.
Haute École Léonard de Vinci overlaps with this institution on software engineering, so the two are easy to compare, and it is larger, enrolling about 6,500 students against roughly 2,200 here, and is also a private institution.
Haute École de Namur-Liège-Luxembourg works in much the same fields, chiefly software engineering, and it runs the same bachelor's and master's programmes and covers industrial design and civil engineering as well.
Think of Haute École Louvain en Hainaut when software engineering is the priority: it runs the same bachelor's and master's programmes and covers aerospace and food science as well.
Most Similar Schools Abroad
Looking internationally, Shizuoka Sangyo University in Japan is where ergonomics and UX, project management and statistics get a comparable treatment; it covers logistics and telecommunications as well, and is slightly larger, at about 3,000 students against roughly 2,200 here.
Looking internationally, Wyższa Szkoła Informatyki Stosowanej i Zarządzania in Poland is where ergonomics and UX, signal processing and project management get a comparable treatment; it is also a private institution, and teaches at the same levels, namely bachelor's and master's.
Looking internationally, International European University in Ukraine is where ergonomics and UX, project management and software engineering get a comparable treatment; it has almost the same size, at about 2,000 students, and is also a private institution.
Nagoya Sangyo University offers an international parallel to this school, with ergonomics and UX, project management and statistics as common ground; it covers logistics and telecommunications as well, and is slightly smaller, at about 1,500 students against roughly 2,200 here.
European University in Ukraine pursues a similar profile in project management and software engineering, and it is larger, enrolling about 6,000 students against roughly 2,200 here, and is also a private institution.
*our own picks (our criteria: a mix between domains, diploma delivered, reputation and size), but obviously too many criteria for an apple-to-apple ranking.
Design for Sustainability, Engineering, Industrial Design, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Innovation, User-Centered Design
*: without any judgment of the quality, readers are strongly encouraged to check the official status of the exact diploma envisioned as many universities have a mix of recognized diplomas, not recognized, “co-delivered,” “equivalent to”, “some pathways” (…), can change over time, and can be named differently from one country to another.
**: international reputation: is based on some criteria that do not mean much in some domains or specialties (number of researchers, of scientific publications, on budget ….). Our approximate 1-4 scale:
known locally
known locally and internationally
is listed in some of the world university’s classifications
is listed among the 20 firsts in some of world university’s classifications
***: estimated numbers, based on online sources and/or feedbacks. The numbers can vary greatly depending on school organisation (ex.: school is part of a group, it employs internal staff or external consultants or has public staff without employing them …). Refer to all the links provided to have accurate and updated numbers.
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