After signing the Bologna Declaration the Flemish Minister for Education started a process to restructure the Flemish higher education system. The degree structure, based on three main cycles, constitutes the core of the new Higher Education Act, which introduced this new structure for all programmes in the academic year 2004-2005.

The higher education system consists of:

• Bachelor degrees: professional, academic, advanced bachelor programmes;
• Master degrees: master and advanced master programmes;
• Ph.D. degrees.