The universities are not the only institutions for higher education within the Flemish Community. A number of institutions organise non-university higher education. One-cycle education is mainly aimed at vocational training. Only the institutions offering a two-cycle education are considered to be at academic level. Studies at Flemish universities are characterised by the integration of education and research.
Fundamental research falls completely under the universities' competencies.
Non-university higher education funds its programmes on the practical applications of this basic research. Universities in Flanders Within the Flemish Community there are several universities, which can be categorised according to various criteria. At some universities, virtually all basic academic-level courses are available. The practice of a regional distribution of academic education allows several universities to offer a limited number of possibilities, or a limited part of certain specialist training programmes. Some of the free universities have a specific ideological orientation.