In Belgium, free choice of the school, and in particular here of the University, is guaranteed by the Constitution, from the Independence of Belgium, in a historical context of opposition between the Catholic and the secular political forces. Moreover, identical public funding of all the universities leads to a geography of the recruitment areas of these institutions developed in a (quasi-free) supply side market. Among the big Universities (Louvain and Ghent on the Flemish side ;Louvain-la-Neuve, Brussels and Liege on the French-speaking side), both Catholic institutions (KUL and UCL) show the most ubiquitous recruitment pattern ;they can base it everywhere on the networks of the Catholic secondary schools. However, this ubiquitousness is decreasing, in relation with the democratisation of the university studies, a fading of the philosophical determinations in the choice of the students and the dynamic growth of smaller Universities, developing proximity recruitment areas. The paper studies the evolution of the geographical patterns of the student's recruitment areas from 1980-1981 and ends with a prospective, developing strengths and weaknesses of the Universities concerning their recruitment during the next decade. ; SCOPUS: re.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published