UCLouvain


UCLouvain is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve, which was expressly built to house the university, and has smaller campuses in Brussels, Charleroi, Mons, Tournai and Namur. Since September 2018, the university uses the branding UCLouvain, replacing the acronym UCL, following a merger with Saint-Louis University, Brussels.
The original University of Louvain was founded at the centre of the historic town of Leuven in 1425, making it the first university in Belgium and the Low Countries, and abolished by law in 1797. This university was the centre of Baianism, Jansenism and Febronianism in Europe. A new university, the State University of Louvain, was founded in 1817 and abolished by the law in 1835. A new catholic university was founded in Mechlin in 1834, the Catholic University of Mechlin and moved to Leuven in 1835 that is frequently, but controversially, identified as a continuation of the older institution. In 1968 the Catholic University of Leuven split into the Dutch-language Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which stayed in Leuven, and the French-language Université catholique de Louvain, which moved to Louvain-la-Neuve in Wallonia, 30 km southeast of Brussels. Since the 15th century, Leuven/Louvain, as it is still often called, has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic theology.

History

The Catholic University of Leuven, based in Leuven, 30 km east of Brussels, provided lectures in French from its founding in 1834, and in Dutch from 1930. In 1968, the Dutch-language section became the independent Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven, while the French-speaking university was expelled to a greenfield campus and town, Louvain-la-Neuve, 30 km south-east of Brussels, in a part of the country where French is the official language. This separation also entailed dividing existing library holdings between the two new universities.
With the democratization of university education already stretching existing structures, plans to expand the French-speaking part of the university at a campus in Brussels or Wallonia were quietly discussed from the early 1960s, but it was not anticipated that the French-speaking section would become an entirely independent university and lose all of its buildings and infrastructure in Leuven. The first stone of the new campus at Louvain-la-Neuve was laid in 1971, and the transfer of faculties to the new site was completed in 1979.According to a 2007 agreement, the University of Louvain was to absorb three smaller French-speaking catholic colleges: the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix located in Namur, the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis located in Brussels and the Catholic university of Mons located in Mons and Charleroi. The negotiations for a full merger aborted by an insufficient vote by the general assembly of the FUNDP in December 2010. The result was a merger between the University of Louvain and the FUCaM in Mons, effective from 15 September 2011. The Mons campus is denoted UCLouvain FUCaM Mons. The three universities still collaborate in consortium, the Académie Louvain. Within this group, member universities have coordinated their masters programmes in the fields of economics, management, political sciences and sciences as well as the doctoral programmes in all disciplines.
In September 2018, the University of Louvain and Saint-Louis University, Brussels de facto merged, founding the UCLouvain, a denomination they currently share.

Chronology

In 1425, Dukes of Brabant created the University of Louvain, which was suppressed under Joseph II, reopened in 1790, and was finally closed under the French Republic in 1797.
In 1817, the State University of Louvain was founded, which closed 15 August 1835.
In 1834, the Catholic bishops of Belgium created the Catholic University of Belgium in Mechlin, also known as the Catholic University of Malines.
A law passed on 27 September 1835 stated that there would be only one university funded by the State of Belgium in Louvain. The same year, shortly after the suppression of the State University, the Catholic University of Belgium moved to Louvain. It took advantage of the reputation of the city as an ancient university centre and adopted a new name: Catholic University of Louvain.
In a Catholic spirit inspired by Pope Gregory XVI, the promoter and first rector of the university, Monseigneur de Ram, wanted to create a shield that would repulse religion's enemies and block every doctrine weakening the base of Catholic society.
The pharmacy school was founded in 1845 and the engineering school in 1865.
In 1884 the Catholic University of Louvain celebrated its fiftieth anniversary.
In 1968, as a result of linguistic issues, the university was divided into two different universities: one French speaking, which moved to the province of Walloon Brabant, and one Dutch speaking, which remained in the same location.
In 1970, these two universities were established by law as the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven and Université catholique de Louvain.
In 1971, the first foundation stone was laid in Louvain-la-Neuve, a new city constructed for the French-speaking university.

Student population

Evolution of the number of students at the University of Louvain, including the FUCaM in Mons that integrated the UCL in 2011, Saint-Louis University, Brussels that formally integrated the university in 2023.

Faculties and schools

Sector of Human Sciences (SSH)

The faculties of Philosophy, Arts and Human Sciences, Economic, Social, Political and Communication Sciences, Law, the Institute for European Studies and the Marie-Haps Faculty of Translating and Interpreting of autonomous UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles campus are not attached to their corresponding counterparts of UCLouvain.

Sector of Health Sciences (SSS)

While the main campus of the University of Louvain is based in Louvain-la-Neuve, it also comprises a campus in Brussels, UCLouvain Brussels Woluwe, in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, which until recently was called "Louvain-en-Woluwe" hosting the university's sector of medical science and primary academic hospital, a campus in Mons called UCLouvain FUCaM Mons, a minor installation in Charleroi with 133 students at UCLouvain Charleroi, an architectural school in Tournai, UCLouvain Tournai, with 540 students, and an architectural school in Brussels, UCLouvain Bruxelles Saint-Gilles, with 570 students. With the merger with Saint-Louis University, it also comprises an independent campus specialized in education and research of social and human sciences in the center of the City of Brussels, UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles and the Marie-Haps Faculty of Translating and Interpreting in Ixelles' European quarter, next to the European Parliament.