Belgium's Non-Resident Quota for Medicine and Dentistry: What EU Applicants Need to Know
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 03, 2026 • Education Planning, Study in Europe, Education News & Policy
Belgium's French Community limits how many non-resident students can start medicine or dentistry each year. Every applicant, resident or not, sits the same entrance exam, and your ranking against others in your own group decides whether you get a place.
🎓 The entrance exam (concours) is identical for residents and non-residents.
💶 Registration for the 2026 exam runs May 18 to July 5, 2026, through concoursmd.be.
📩 The exam takes place August 27, 2026, at Brussels Expo, in person only.
🎓 Scoring runs out of 160 points, with separate rankings for medicine and dentistry.
🏠 A fixed share of each year's places goes to non-resident students, capping how many can start regardless of score.
⏱️ Register inside the window. Missing it means waiting for next year's session.
Why Belgium caps non-resident places
Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the French-speaking Community of Belgium, trains far more doctors and dentists than its own population needs, largely because students from France and elsewhere without a place at home have long used Belgian universities as an entry route into medicine. To protect training capacity for its own health system, the Community caps the share of each year's medicine and dentistry places open to non-resident students.
Your resident status depends on where you and your family have actually lived, not your passport. An EU citizen who has lived in Belgium for years can count as a resident, while a Belgian citizen who spent most of their life abroad might not. Confirm your status with your chosen university before you assume either way, since it decides which pool you compete in.
The entrance exam works the same for everyone
Whether you count as a resident or not, you sit the same concours. The test is not a formality attached to enrollment. It decides who gets in, and it happens before the academic year starts rather than acting as a filter during first year.
For the 2026-2027 intake, registration on concoursmd.be runs from May 18 to July 5, 2026. The exam takes place on August 27, 2026, at Brussels Expo, and you sit it in person. Scoring goes up to 160 points, with medicine and dentistry ranked separately, so your score only competes against other candidates aiming for the same degree.
What the quota means in practice
Passing the concours with a good score does not guarantee a place if you fall in the non-resident pool. A fixed share of the year's places goes to non-residents as a group, so your real competition is other non-resident candidates for that capped share, not the full pool of everyone who sat the exam. A strong score that would comfortably place you among residents still loses out to a deeper non-resident applicant pool in a competitive year.
Contact ARES or your target university directly to confirm which pool you fall into and how many places that pool has for your intake year. These figures shift, so check them for the specific year you apply rather than relying on an older number.
How to plan around it
Register inside the window. Late registration is not accepted.
Prepare for a general science and reasoning test, not a syllabus tied to one specific high school curriculum.
Build a backup plan. A missed place in Belgium does not have to end your medicine or dentistry ambitions elsewhere in Europe.
Reconfirm your resident or non-resident status early. It shapes your realistic odds more than your raw score does.