Bruges (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – In Bruges, SNT adult education will maintain current tuition rates for language and photography courses in the upcoming school year, despite inflation trends.
In a symbolic sense, the new school year begins on June 30 rather than September 1. By doing this, they are opposing Education Minister Demir’s (N-VA) proposal to raise student registration fees from 1.5 to 4 euros per course.
Less than a month ago, the Belgium government declared that starting in September, “hobby training” would cost significantly more.
This includes taking a culinary class or taking Spanish classes in the evening. While the Flemish Parliament continues to debate adult education reforms, SNT head Anthony Strubbe is already leading the charge.
“For us, waiting for a decision is not an option. In order to keep lifelong learning affordable, we are organizing an early registration round for the 2025-2026 school year,”
says director Strubbe.
“Of course, the new school year does not start until September 1, but based on the adult education decree, you can already start modules in June that would normally not start until September,”
says the director.
“So our teachers will start a new module on June 30, take a vacation and continue the lessons on September 1. This way, students can register one more time at the current rate of €1.50 per lesson.”
The management of SNT Brugge is particularly dissatisfied because there has been no consultation with the sector:
“I agree that a price increase was necessary and many of my colleagues think so too. The price has remained unchanged since 2015. But a drastic and sudden increase is the threshold for us, that is what we stumble over.”
“We want to indicate that we do not want to make a political game of it. It is not for or against, but we are concerned about the future of adult education and what lifelong learning means for a society. We have 9,000 students this school year, these are good figures and we fear a drastic decline.”
How long are the old rates for language and photography lessons in Bruges expected to last?
It is anticipated that the previous, cheaper prices for language and photography instruction in Bruges, especially for classes categorized as “hobby courses,” would soon come to an end.
The Flemish government formally raised the hourly tariff from €1.50 to €4 in May 2025 for the majority of adult education hobby courses, including foreign language programs (apart from Dutch and Flemish Sign Language).
This increase in price reflects a change in policy that aims to lower the cost of job-focused training while raising the price of non-vocational courses.
Beyond this policy change, there has been no formal indication that the previous rates will be retained or resumed. The raise is a component of a larger reform that aims to better match funding for adult education with employment success.
