Training vouchers

• Employees with an employment contract living in Flanders or in the Brussels-Capital Region can make use of the training vouchers if the programme they wish to follow meets certain conditions. Europeans working in Flanders or in the Brussels-Capital Region can also use the cheques .
• Statutory civil servants and temps are also eligible. 
• You can also use the cheques for programmes followed when you take a time credit or during paid educational leave, as long as you meet the conditions.

• people with a diploma of higher education (for example a bachelor's degree).
• Individuals who are not professionally active
• Self-employed people: For trainings that you receive as a self-employed person or by order of your employer, you can appeal to the SME Portfolio. For further information, please contact Enterprise Flanders. Phone: +32 (0)800 20 555 www.kmo-portefeuille.be
• Young people who are exclusively employed under a student contract
• Young people (aged 16-25) who are employed under an employment contract of less than 80 hours a month 

In case you are highly educated, as of 1 March 2015 you will only be eligible for training vouchers when you want to follow a career-oriented education in the context of career guidance. You are highly educated when you have completed higher studies, meaning studies leading to a bachelor's degree or higher education, a teacher's degree, a Teaching Certificate for Secondary and Higher Education (Getuigschrift Pedagogische Bekwaamheid) and a diploma of adult post-secondary education for social development purposes (hoger onderwijs voor sociale promotie),

If you live in Flanders or Brussels and are employed abroad then you can apply for training vouchers. The same applies to Europeans working in Flanders or Brussels but do not live there.

Ask the registrar's office

You can pay your enrolment fee with the vouchers. The vouchers can also be used to buy study materials at the university (not in shops outside the university)

The Government of Flanders pays half of every training voucher used to pay for a programme. For vouchers worth €5, €10 and €25, you only pay €2.50, €5 and €12.50 yourself. You can purchase up to €250 of training vouchers per calendar year.

Order the exact amount for your enrolment fee. You will not get any money back if you ordered more training vouchers than you need.

A student who applies for a scholarship can only apply for €113,20 of training vouchers. If your application is denied you can always order more vouchers afterwards. You can submit the vouchers in two lots.

No. Student administration accepts training vouchers throughout the year (but not retroactively for an academic year that has already ended). Order your training vouchers on time so that you don't have to advance your programme's enrolment fee yourself. If you do pay the enrolment fee in advance by bank transfer then you will be reimbursed as soon as you hand in your training vouchers. 
 
You can apply for the training vouchers through the following channels:

• On the website of VDAB (the Flemish Public Employment and Vocational Training Service)
   
• By calling the VDAB Service Line on 0800 30700 (every weekday from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m.)
   
• In the 'Werkwinkel' (job shop), Kipdorp 49, 2000 Antwerp

You have 14 months (from the date of issue) to start your programme. The institution can redeem the vouchers up to two months after the voucher has expired.

The issuer (Edenred) will arrange the payment and receipt of the vouchers with you.

If you do not pay, then you will not be sent any vouchers.

If you are following a higher education programme which lasts more than a year, you can receive an additional intervention for every calendar year. This additional intervention is worth half of anything over the fixed annual maximum for training vouchers (= €250), and is capped at €125. 
 
You can calculate the additional intervention as follows: imagine your enrolment fee is €500. You order the maximum amount of training vouchers (€250), only paying half yourself. The government pays half of the remaining enrolment fee of €250, i.e. €125. In order to keep the administrative burden to a minimum you will not be required to order training vouchers for this step.  This additional intervention will be reimbursed directly.
 
You can apply for the additional intervention using a form which can be downloaded from the VDAB's website. Student administration will have to fill out this form for you. Only Bachelor programme courses are eligible for the additional intervention.