UZ Leuven Careers, Salaries & Jobs

UZ Leuven is the university hospital of KU Leuven, based mainly on the Gasthuisberg health sciences campus in Leuven, Flanders. It describes itself as Belgium's largest university hospital.

At the end of 2025 it had 10,147 staff (8,646 full-time equivalents), including 1,950 doctors and dentists and 3,006 nurses and midwives.

In 2025 UZ Leuven recorded 786,608 consultations, 52,905 admissions, 138,752 day admissions, 73,063 emergency attendances and 57,600 operations. It is the largest of Belgium's 8 transplant centres, with 388 organs transplanted in 2025, 31.2% of all organs transplanted in Belgium.

In Newsweek's World's Best Hospitals 2026, UZ Leuven was ranked 37th in the world and the highest-placed Belgian hospital, according to the hospital's own report of the ranking.

For internationally trained professionals, UZ Leuven is one of the few Belgian hospitals that writes openly about international recruitment. Its international office explains the Belgian procedures, and it ran a pilot with Indian nurses from 2024. It is equally clear that permanent work there requires sufficient Dutch, and that diploma equivalence in Flanders is slow.

Run by

KU Leuven: UZ Leuven is one of its three constituent parts, alongside the university and KU Leuven Research and Development

Leadership

• Prof. dr. Paul Herijgers, CEO
• Prof. dr. Gert Van Assche, Medical director
• Koen Balcaen, Chief nursing and patient support officer

Awards and rankings

• Newsweek World's Best Hospitals 2026: 37th in the world and the highest-placed Belgian hospital, as reported by UZ Leuven

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• Organ transplantation

  Largest of Belgium's 8 transplant centres: 388 organs in 2025, including 115 kidney, 88 liver, 27 heart and 152 lungs in 76 double lung transplants.

• Lung transplantation

  UZ Leuven performed its 1,500th lung transplant at the end of 2024 and says it carries out about two thirds of all Belgian lung transplants.

• Leuven Cancer Institute (LKI)

  Recognised as a Comprehensive Cancer Centre by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes in January 2025; 36,261 oncology patients in 2025.

• Cardiac surgery

  UZ Leuven's doctors' recruitment page describes a cardiac surgery team that performs more than 1,500 heart operations a year.

• Proton therapy

  Home of PARTICLE, the inter-university proton therapy centre, which marked five years in Leuven in June 2025.

• Rare diseases

  The Leuven Institute for Rare Diseases (Leuven.IRD) brings together research expertise on rare diseases at KU Leuven.

• UZ Leuven has an international office page for working in Leuven. It explains the separate procedures for medical specialists, doctors coming for (part of) specialist training and holders of paramedical or nursing degrees, links to the Federal Public Service (FPS) Public Health language rules, and points to housing information and the International House Leuven for relocation support.
• Since October 2024, 18 nurses from India have worked at UZ Leuven in a pilot run with two other Flemish hospitals, ZOL and Noorderhart, in consultation with the Indian government. The first selection was made by the Indian state agency Odepc. Candidates trained to B1 Dutch before arriving and continued lessons in Belgium towards B2. While waiting for degree equivalence, they worked in care support roles under a nurse's supervision, not as nurses.
• UZ Leuven's own lessons from the pilot: do not underestimate Dutch, start the NARIC equivalence application early (it was still pending 12 months after filing), work with an official language institute, recruit ethically through government channels, and provide housing and integration support in the first months. The hospital said in 2025 that it was preparing projects with other countries, but we found no open international nurse programme to apply to.
• Doctors can send a spontaneous application with a CV to the chief medical officer. Clinical observerships, with no medical acts and no direct patient contact, are possible without a Dutch language requirement.

• Dutch. UZ Leuven says sufficient Dutch is essential to work permanently there. Doctors in specialist training need B2 for contact with patients who are awake; until then a contract language clause limits them to technical acts with a Dutch-speaking colleague present. Ad hoc language training is developed for staff doctors who are not native Dutch speakers.

• Visa to practise from the FPS Public Health. You must show Dutch, French or German with a certificate less than four years old: C1 (written expression B2) for doctors, dentists, pharmacists and physiotherapists, B2 for general care nurses and midwives. The test must cover all four skills; course attendance and unsupervised online tests are not accepted.

• Diploma recognition. With a non-EEA diploma you need equivalence from NARIC-Vlaanderen before the FPS visa. Doctors then register with the Order of Physicians, have their specialist title recognised by the Flemish Departement Zorg and obtain an RIZIV number.

• Work permit. Unless you are exempt, the employer applies for a single permit in Flanders. As a highly qualified nurse on a Belgian contract you must earn at least 80% of the average Belgian salary, €39,129.60 a year (2025 figure); other highly qualified workers need €48,912. The permit cannot be issued without your diploma.

• EU, EEA and Swiss nationals do not need a work permit, but still need recognition of their diploma and the FPS visa, including the language proof.

1. 1

   Start Dutch early

   Aim for the FPS level for your profession (C1 for doctors, B2 for nurses) and B2 for patient contact at UZ Leuven. Use an exam that tests all four skills, such as ITNA or a CVO certificate.
2. 2

   File your NARIC-Vlaanderen equivalence first

   UZ Leuven's own advice after its pilot is to apply for equivalence well before you finish language training, because the process can take a year or more.
3. 3

   Apply for the FPS visa to practise

   With equivalence and your language certificate, apply to the FPS Public Health. Doctors then register with the Order of Physicians and seek specialist recognition from Departement Zorg.
4. 4

   Find a vacancy

   Search jobs.uzleuven.be by domain, including nursing and midwifery, paramedical and clinical roles. Doctors can also send a spontaneous application with a CV to the chief medical officer.
5. 5

   Let the employer apply for your single permit

   If you need a work permit, UZ Leuven as employer applies through the Flemish single-permit procedure; check the salary threshold for your category.
6. 6

   Plan your move

   Use the international office pages for housing and the International House Leuven for help with relocation and integration.

• IFIC category 14 (bachelor nurse or midwife)

  €3,447.52 to €5,419.17 a month

  Seniority 0 to 35 years, IFIC target scales from 1 July 2026.

• IFIC category 15

  €3,692.71 to €5,798.91 a month

  Seniority 0 to 35 years, 1 July 2026.

• Sunday or public holiday work

  100% supplement

  UZ Leuven rate; it lists 56% as the sector average for paid public holidays.

• Night work (7pm to 7am) and Saturdays

  35% supplement

  UZ Leuven rates for irregular hours.

• Highly qualified nurse work permit floor (Flanders)

  €39,129.60 a year

  80% of the 2025 average Belgian salary, Belgian contract.