| University of Namur | |
|---|---|
| Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix | |
Seal of the University of Namur |
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| Established | 1831 |
| Type | Private Catholic |
| Rector | Yves Poullet |
| Students | 4,287 (in 2006) |
| Location | Namur, Belgium |
| Affiliations | Académie Louvain |
| Website | www.fundp.ac.be |
| Data as of 2006[update] | |
The University of Namur or Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP) , in Namur (Belgium), is a Jesuit, Catholic private university in the French Community of Belgium. Both teaching and research are carried out in six Faculties or university level schools in the fields of
In 29 June 2003, the FUNDP joined a network with three other French speaking, Catholic institutions in Belgium, the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons, the Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis and the Université catholique de Louvain forming the Académie Louvain. Explorations developed in 2007 for combining all four into one university, the Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). The plan for fusion was accepted by the three other institutions but in 17 December 2010 the FUNDP General Assembly failed to give the 80% needed for ratification.
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The University of Namur is located in Namur, Belgium. The main campus is located at the heart of the city of Namur, capital of Wallonia, although there are also other FUNDP satellite campuses to be found in other cities such as Charleroi (known as Charleroi Antenna). The main university campus includes the university building, the six main faculties and the university libraries.
In the spring of 1831, the Society of Jesus reopened a high school in what was earlier the Our-Lady of Peace benedictine abbey, in Namur. The school immediately developed into a college with the support of prominent Namurian families. They put some conditions in order to finance the new project, the most important is teaching other sciences such as philosophy with the liberty of education as proclaimed by the new Belgian Constitution.
Many expansions took place in this period, the number of students increased gradually, new sciences and study programmes were introduced.
The New Belgian law excluded the institution from getting financial support from the government. This pushed the ambitious university to rely on its own sources and funds. Despite this, in 1934, many projects were launched: new building specific to physical and chemical studies, the expansion of Bells-Lettres library, modernization of some laboratories, many new titles were added to the seminars library.
On February 18th 1948, the institution, formerly a college, changed its status to that of a university. This new status resulted in having some (limited and irregular) financial aid from the government.
Starting in 1960, after the introduction of new national financing laws, government aid increased and became regular. Many new projects and programmes came into being, improving the university's national and European visibility.
The university launched many important projects:
According to a 2007 agreement, the University of Namur with other three french-speaking catholic universities and colleges: Université Catholique de Louvain the biggest university in Belgium and located in Louvain-La-Neuve, the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL) located in Brussels and the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons (FUCAM) located in Mons and Charleroi are going to form a new united university.
Negotiations started in September 2007 and they should lead to the creation of a new university which should be called Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) (campuses might be identified as UCL/Brussels, UCL/Namur, UCL/Louvain-la-Neuve, UCL/Mons and UCL/Charleroi). The four universities are already part of a common group, the "Academie Louvain". Within this group, member universities have coordinated their masters programmes in the fields of economics, management, political sciences and sciences.
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