Vacature magazine recently published a wonderful article about why foreigners should come to Belgium to live and work. In this article '11x best of Belgium' the authors worked out 11 reasons why Belgium is so attractive. These reasons, however, also apply to young talent who wish to come to Belgium to study.

To London, Paris and Amsterdam in no time

From Belgium, the rest of Europe is within easy reach. Belgium’s location is the country’s biggest single asset.

Belgium is located in one of the most densely populated and most commercial regions of the world. It is an integral part of the ‘Blue Banana’ megalopolis (also known as the‘Grande Région’), a multinational European metropolis of more than 85 million inhabitants constituting the centre of Europe in terms of economy, innovation and power. The region spans from Liverpool via London and Belgium across to the German Ruhr region and down to the north of Italy. The megalopolis represents two thirds of Europe’s GDP. The region contains four of the world’s ten largest airports (London Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle Paris, Frankfurt am Main and Amsterdam-(Schiphol).

Belgium is bubbling with culture

Belgium is a veritable Mecca for international culture fans. Its myriad of historical cities is home to an equally diverse array of top class dance, theatre, film and music.

Toon Berckmoes from CultuurNet Flanders: “Belgium’s main advantage is that there are many different large, historical cities within a short distance of each other. The cultural landscape in these cities is also highly attractive. For people interested in dance and theatre, Belgium is a virtual paradise. We are a world centre for dance and in the domain of fashion, lifestyle and shopping, Antwerp also enjoys prime of place.” That the international level of the performing arts is not just PR talk can be demonstrated on the basis of a few figures. A study conducted by the Flemish Theatre Institute in 2004 reveals that approximately one third (34%) of all performing arts productions toured internationally. And around half of all Flemish dance productions also included an international play list.