Femke Scholte

Luxembourg

Luxembourg in general
Luxembourg (officially grand duchy Luxembourg) is a Western country which borders
Belgium, France and Germany. It has just over half a million inhabitants, which makes it the
smallest country in the European Union after Malta. The capital city and the largest city as
well, is the eponymous Luxembourg. Luxembourg has in recent years shown it is a supporter of
international economic, political and military cooperation. Their international cooperations
have ensured the country was able to develop
their economy from a steel-based economy to an
economy that is based on international trade
and banking. The result is that Luxembourg
today belongs to one of the most prosperous
countries in the world. If you want to study in a
foreign country or maybe do an internship in a
country different than the Netherlands, but you
still want to be close to your home, Luxembourg
is a good option to choose, due to its distance to
the Netherlands, their economy and prosperity.

Luxembourg has three official languages: French, German and Luxembourgish. A big part of
the population speaks English as well and some people even speak Dutch. Most people in the
Netherlands speak German and English and some speak a bit of French as well. This makes it
easy to communicate in Luxembourg.

The monetary unit is the euro. This is very helpful for Dutch people, because we use the euro
as well, just as the 22 other countries that use the euro.

JOURNEY TO LUXEMBOURG
The flight from Amsterdam to Luxembourg is not too expensive. For a retour ticket and if you
travel with the cheapest airline, you need to pay 203,72. Although you might want to go by
plane, going by train is far more cheaper. If you go with NS Hispeed, youll need to pay 61,40,
which will save you 142,32.

STAYING IN LUXEMBOURG
If you want to stay in Luxembourg for a longer period of time, you dont need a visa. However,
youll need to request a certificate of residence at the local authorities when you want to stay
longer than three months.

There are many different ways concerning your stay. If you want to stay in a hotel, because
youre doing an internship you can choose a cheap youth hostel, but also an expensive hotel.
The lowest price for one night in a youth hostel is 23,90, while the most expensive stay for
one night in a hotel is 195. In both the youth hostel and the hotel is a free Wi-Fi connection. If
youre doing an internship you might also find a host family where you can stay during your
internship. This of course wont cost you any money.

Femke Scholte
When you want to study in Luxembourg, you might want to consider renting a house or an
apartment. The rental prices in Luxembourg are very high. In the capital city of Luxembourg,
its even higher. This is why some people decide to share their apartment. This will save you
money. Youll have your own room and a shared kitchen and bathroom. The rent differs per
apartment, but most of them will cost you 500 to 800 per month. Buying an apartment in
Luxembourg will cost you 4,000 to 6,500 per square meter. However, there are also students
apartments available, which will cost you about 350 per month.

When youre living in Luxembourg, youll need to pay for other costs as well, just like in every
other country. Basic utilities, such as electricity, heating, water and garbage for a 85 square
meter apartment will cost you 180 to 200 per month. One minute of prepaid mobile locally
will cost you 0,14 on average. Cable internet will cost you 25 to 50 per month.
To conclude, staying in Luxembourg will cost you the following (on average and excluded your
groceries. For the apartment I used the 85 square meter apartment):
Expensive
hotel
Youth
hostel
Host
family
Shared
apartment
Own
apartment
Student
apartment
Price 195 per
night
23,90 per
night
- 650 per
month
446.250 350 per
month
Basic
utilities
- - - 190 per
month
(shared with
your
roommates)
190 per
month
190 per
month
Prepaid
mobile
0,14 per
minute
0,14 per
minute
0,14 0,14 0,14 0,14
Cable
internet
- - - 37,50 per
month
(shared with
your
roommates)
37,50 per
month
37,50
Total
(per
month)
5.854,20 721,20 4,20 881,70
(shared
with your
roommates)
231,70 +
446.250
one-off
581,70

STUDYING IN LUXEMBOURG
The higher education in Luxembourg is characterized by its high quality and multilingualism.
Luxembourg has three universities and some vocational schools. The three universities are
Universit du Luxembourg, Institut Universitaire International Luxembourg and Sacred Heart
University. On all three of them, youre able to study in English, German and French. When
applying for admission to higher education you need to show that youre at a high level of one
of those languages. Sometimes its even permitted to speak some Luxembourgish.
Furthermore, you need to have a secondary school certificate which is recognized by the
Ministre de lEducation nationale.

The main university (the University of Luxembourg) has three faculties; the faculty of science,
technology and communication, the faculty of law, economics and finance and the faculty of
arts, humanities and education studies. The Sacred Heart University offers MBA programmes.
The technical school for arts and crafts offers vocational training certificates in design
Femke Scholte
animation and media operation. Furthermore, the School of Commerce and Management
offers vocational training certificates in marketing, secretarial studies and management. The
last university offers a post-graduate degree.

The higher education in Luxembourg consists of three cycles, which is exactly the same in the
Netherlands. The first cycle is the bachelors degree. The next cycle are the master courses and
lastly youll do your PhD. One will get their doctoral degree. Bachelor courses will take you
three to four years and the master courses one to two years.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT
The rail traffic is provided by the domestic company CFL (Socit Nationale des Chemins de
Fer Luxembourgeois). Theres a total track of 275 km. Furthermore, there are three bus
companies: AVL (Autobus de la Ville de Luxembourg), RGTR (Rgime Gnral des Transports
Routiers) and TICE (Transport intercommunal de personnes dans le canton d'Esch-sur-
Alzette). A Kuurzzitbilljee/Kurzzeitfahrkarte/Billet courte dure costs 2 (or 16 for 10
pieces) and entitles you to unlimited travel for two hours in the regular trains between
Luxembourgish stations and on buses. A Dagesbilljee/Tagesnetzfahrkarte/Billet longe dure
costs 4 (or 16 for 5 pieces) and entitles you to unlimited travel throughout the day. A ride
by the TGV from Luxembourg City to Paris will take you two hours. There are also plans to
construct tram lines in the city of Luxembourg and to construct a light rail connection to the
surrounding areas.

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
Luxembourg has about 160.000 newspapers. Most newspapers and magazines in Luxembourg
are multilingual, but the articles are mostly in German. However, there are also a few
completely French newspapers: Le Jeudi, La Voix du Luxembourg, Le Quotidien and the free
newspaper l'essentiel. This means theres a large supply of newspapers in different languages,
which will help one find a newspaper he/she would like to read. The largest newspaper is the
Luxemburger Wort.

Many television and radio stations have settled in Luxembourg. RTL Group is Europes largest
TV and radio production company and is the best known company in Luxembourg as well. A
limited number of television channels focuses on the Luxembourgish market and therefore
broadcasts in Luxembourgish. RTL Tl Ltzebuerg has the largest share of this. RTL Group
has several other channels that focus on other countries, such as Club RTL, Plug RTL and RTL
TVI (which focuses on Wallonia), RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8 (focuses on the Netherlands)
and RTL 9 which focuses on France. This shows that there are various options to watch TV and
the Dutch student can even watch Dutch television. Moreover, Luxembourg has various radio
channels. The best known is RTL Radio Ltzebuerg. There are several international radio
stations as well, such as Radio Latina (Portugese), RTL Radio (German) and Radio
Luxembourg. In Luxembourg are about 360.000 telephone connections and about 220.000
internet connections. This all makes the communication in Luxembourg very easy.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS
Studying abroad is usually more expensive than in the Netherlands, except for Luxembourg:
the study costs are lower and the living expenses are quite similar to the Netherlands. In
general, the students dont have to pay tuition. Students only have to pay registration costs
(which vary from 50 to 200 per semester).
Femke Scholte
There are 33 scholarships available for Dutch students who want to study in Luxembourg.
Whether youre allowed to get the scholarship, depends on what you want to do and at what
university youre studying at. Furthermore, youll need to apply for such a scholarship, so
youre not guaranteed youll get the scholarship.


LIST OF SOURCES

www.wilweg.nl
www.booking.com/luxemburg
www.cheaptickets.nl
http://www.nshispeed.nl/nl/onze-bestemmingen/trein-luxemburg
http://www.appartager.lu/luxembourg/colocation-luxembourg/annonces/l
http://wonen-en-werken-in-luxemburg.wikispaces.com/
http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?country=Luxembourg
http://www.expatica.lu/education/higher_education/Higher-Education-in-
Luxembourg_15365.html
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxemburg_(land)