Established 1425, 1834, 1970 Chairman Herman baron Daems Total enrollment 57,284 (2015) | Endowment € 950 million Undergraduate tuition and fees 906.1 EUR (2017) | |
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Motto Sedes Sapientiae (Latin) Motto in English Seat of Wisdom
or Seat of Knowledge Type Independent/Free catholic university Address Oude Markt 13, 3000 Leuven, Belgium Notable alumni Herman Van Rompuy, Pieter De Somer, Joan Daemen, Mathias Cormann, Rik Torfs Profiles | ||
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ( [katoˈlikə ynivɛrsiˈtɛit ˈløːvə(n)], listen ; Dutch for Catholic University of Leuven, but usually not translated into English to avoid confusion with the Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)), also known as KU Leuven or University of Leuven, is a Dutch-speaking university in Leuven, Flanders, Belgium.
Contents
- General description
- History
- Programs
- Library
- University Hospital
- Notable alumni
- Honorary doctorates
- Organisations
- Electronic learning environment TOLEDO
- International acclaim
- References
The University of Leuven was founded at the centre of the historic town of Leuven in 1425, making it Belgium's first university. After being closed in 1797 during the Napoleonic period, the Catholic University of Leuven was "re-founded" in 1834, and is frequently, but controversially, identified as a continuation of the older institution.A In 1968 the Catholic University of Leuven split into the Dutch-language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the French-language Université catholique de Louvain, which moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia. Since the fifteenth century, Louvain, as it is still often called by French speaking Belgians (Flemish speaking Belgians always use Leuven), has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic theology. It is considered the oldest Catholic university still in existence.
With 55,484 students in 2014–2015, the KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium and the Low Countries. In addition to its primary campus in Leuven, it has satellite campuses in Kortrijk ('KULAK'), Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Ostend, Geel, Diepenbeek, Aalst, Sint-Katelijne-Waver and in Belgium's capital Brussels. The university now also offers several programs in English.
As of 2016-2017 academic year, KU Leuven ranks as 40th globally according to Times Higher Education, 79th according to QS World University Rankings and 93rd according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities. KU Leuven is consistently considered to be within the top 100 universities of the world and in contention with Ghent University as the best Belgian university.
General description
The KU Leuven is a strongly research-oriented university. Among its many accolades is to be reckoned among the top universities of Europe. In the 2015-2016 Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) university ranking, the KU Leuven was ranked 35th in the world and 12th in Europe, making it the highest ranked university from the low countries (The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) in either category. Its current 2015-2016 QS World University Ranking position is 82nd. KU Leuven Institute of Philosophy current ranks 24th in the world. In 2016, KU Leuven was ranked first on the Reuters' list of Europe's most innovative universities.
KU Leuven Law School currently ranks 26th in the world.
In the 2014-2015 Academic Year, 55,484 students were attending classes at the 15 faculties of the KU Leuven, 9,930 of whom were foreign students, many of whom were able to follow courses offered in English. Most courses, however, are taught in Dutch. The KU Leuven is a member of the Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities) as well as of the LERU Group (League of European Research Universities). Since November 2014, KU Leuven's Faculty of Economics and Business is accredited by European Quality Improvement System, which is a leading accreditation system specializing in higher education institutions of management and business administration.
Since August 2013, the university has been led by Rik Torfs who replaced former rector Mark Waer. The Belgian archbishop, André-Joseph Léonard is the current Grand Chancellor and a member of the university board.
The KU Leuven is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, under her traditional attribute as 'Seat of Wisdom', and organizes an annual celebration on 2 February in her honour. On that day, the university also awards its honorary doctorates. The seal used by the university shows the medieval statue of the Sedes Sapientiae, Leuven, in a vesica piscis shape. Despite its Catholic origin, the university welcomes students from different faith communities.
In Flanders, the KU Leuven has a Catholic origin, whereas the University of Ghent and the University of Antwerp are officially neutral on issues of religious/philosophical orientation, and the Free University of Brussels is Freethinking.
History
For the history of the pre-1970 university see Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968).In 1968, tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities led to the splitting of the bilingual Catholic University of Leuven into two "sister" universities, with the Dutch-language university becoming a fully functioning independent institution in Leuven in 1970, and the Université Catholique de Louvain departing to a newly built greenfield campus site in the French-speaking part of Belgium. Pieter De Somer became the first rector of the KU Leuven.
In 1972, the KU Leuven set up a separate entity, "Leuven Research & Development" (LRD), to support industrial and commercial applications of university research. It has led to numerous spin-offs, such as the technology company Metris, and manages tens of millions of euros in investments and venture capital.
On 11 July 2002, the KU Leuven became the dominant institution in the "KU Leuven Association" (see below).
Programs
The table below provides an overview of the courses offered by the faculties of the University of Leuven in English. For the Dutch programs go to KU Leuven - opleidingen. There are 4 English bachelor programs and many different Master programs in English.
Library
For the history of the university library prior to 1970, see Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968).When the university was split, those books that could not be divided otherwise (e.g. according to the wishes of the benefactors who donated them) were divided as follows: those with an odd-numbered shelfmark stayed in Leuven, while the even-numbered ones moved to Louvain-la-Neuve. This gave rise to the widespread myth that every other volume was separated - splitting up runs of journals and volumes of encyclopedias - but since such series each had a single shelfmark this was never in fact the case. The Central Library alone now owns about 1,300,000 works.
Inside Room 07.30 of the Faculteit Letteren is the Belgian Association of Japanese Language Teachers (ベルギー日本語教師会 Berugi Nihongo Kyōshikai; BNK) book case of materials for teaching the Japanese language.
University Hospital
UZ Leuven (Universitair ziekenhuis Leuven) is the teaching hospital associated with the KU Leuven. Its most well known and largest campus is Gasthuisberg (literally 'guest house hill') and also houses the majority of auditoria of the faculty of medicine and the faculty of Pharmaceutical sciences.
Notable alumni
For pre-1970 alumni see Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)#Notable alumni.Honorary doctorates
Notable recipients of honorary doctorates at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven include:
Organisations
Notable divisions of the university include the Higher Institute of Philosophy and the Rega Institute for Medical Research.
The university is a member of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology (VIB). The Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) is a spin-off company of the university.
The students of the university are gathered together in the student's society LOKO. They have representatives in most meetings at the university, including the Board of Directors.
KU Leuven joined the Venice International University (VIU) on October 29, 2016.
Since July 2002, thirteen higher education institutes have formed the K.U.Leuven Association. The members are:
Electronic learning environment: TOLEDO
Toledo, which started in September 2001, was gradually developed into the central electronic learning environment at the Association KU Leuven.
The word is an acronym for "TOetsen en LEren Doeltreffend Ondersteunen" (English: effectively supporting testing and learning). It is the collective name for a number of commercial software programs and tools, such as Blackboard. The project offers the Question Mark Perception assignment software to all institution members and has implemented the Ariadne KPS to reuse digital learning objects inside the Blackboard environment.
International acclaim
In 2016, the Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven as the world's 93rd best university, while the Times Higher Education ranked KU Leuven 35th best university and QS World University Rankings ranked KU Leuven 79th overall in the world. In 2016, KU Leuven was ranked first on the Reuters' list of Europe's most innovative universities.
In the academic year of 2012-2013, the university held Erasmus contracts with 434 European establishments. It also had 22 central bilateral agreements in 8 countries: U.S.A, China, South Africa, Japan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Poland and the Netherlands. The vast majority of international EU students came from the Netherlands, the non-EU ones - from China. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is up to 50 projects, specializing in development of international relations. Facts and figures about KU Leuven. [2]