| Catholic University of Louvain | |
|---|---|
| Université catholique de Louvain | |
Seal of the University of Louvain |
|
| Latin: Universitas Catholica Lovaniensis | |
| Motto | Sedes Sapientiae (Latin) |
| Motto in English | Seat of Wisdom, Seat of Knowledge |
| Established | 1834, 1968 |
| Type | Private Catholic |
| Endowment | €370 million |
| Rector | Bruno Delvaux |
| Admin. staff | 5,417 |
| Students | 23,515 |
| Doctoral students | 2,025 |
| Location | Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium |
| Campus | Planned community |
| Colors | Blue and White |
| Affiliations | Académie Louvain AUF CEMS CESAER CLUSTER Coimbra Group IMCC TIME |
| Website | www.uclouvain.be |
| Data as of 2008[update] | |
The Université catholique de Louvain, sometimes known, especially in Belgium, as UCL, is Belgium's largest French-speaking university. It is located in Louvain-la-Neuve and in Brussels. It split from the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium's oldest university,[1] in 1968, the Dutch half staying in Leuven under the name Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
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The Catholic University of Leuven, based in Leuven ("Louvain" in French), 30 km east of Brussels, provided lectures in French from its refounding in 1835, and in Dutch from 1930. In 1968 the Dutch-language section became an independent Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven, while the French-speaking university was moved to a greenfield campus, Louvain-la-Neuve, 20 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 had been quietly discussed from the early 1960s, but it had not been anticipated that the French-speaking section would become an entirely independent university and lose all 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.
While the main campus of Université catholique de Louvain is based at Louvain-la-Neuve, there is however a small campus in Brussels, in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, which until recently was called "Louvain-en-Woluwe" (the authorities of the UCL tend to prefer nowadays to refer to it as "UCL-Brussels"). This satellite campus hosts the faculty of medicine of the university.
According to a 2007 agreement, the Université catholique de Louvain should absorb three small French-speaking catholic colleges: the Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP) located in Namur, the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis (FUSL) located in Brussels and the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons (FUCAM) located in Mons and Charleroi. Negotiations started in September 2007 and they should lead to the creation of a new university to be called Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). (The campuses might be identified as UCL/Brussels, UCL/Louvain-la-Neuve, UCL/Mons, UCL/Namur 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.
| University rankings (overall) | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| ARWU[2] | 2-3 |
| Global | |
| ARWU[3] | 102-150 |
| QS[4] | 125 |
The Université catholique de Louvain educates around 23,500 students in all areas of studies. It has educated a large part of Belgium's elite and is still considered, with its Dutch-speaking sister, as a centre of excellence in many fields. In 2006, it was ranked 76th in the world universities ranking established by the Times higher education supplement (24th in Europe). It is connected to Brussels by a train service, and the new town and campus is architecturally interesting.
In the 2011 QS World University Rankings[5] the Université Catholique de Louvain was ranked 125th overall in the world, moving up one place from its position of joint 126th in the 2009 THE–QS World University Rankings (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).[6] An overview of the THE-QS Rankings up to 2009:
| Year | Rank (Change) |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 88 |
| 2006 | 76 ( 12) |
| 2007 | 123 ( 47) |
| 2008 | 116 ( 7) |
| 2009 | 126 ( 10) |
Academic Ranking of World Universities
| Year | Overall Rank | Clinical Medicine and Pharmacy |
Life and Agriculture Sciences |
Social Sciences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 201-300 | — | — | — |
| 2004 | 101-152 | — | — | — |
| 2005 | 101-152 | — | — | — |
| 2006 | 102-150 | — | — | — |
| 2007 | 102-150 | 51-75 | 77-106 | 77-104 |
| 2008 | 101-151 | 52-75 | 76-107 | 77-107 |
| 2009 | 101-151 | 51-76 | 76-100 | 76-100 |
| 2010 | 101-150 | 51-75 | 76-100 | 76-100 |
Cercles are Student Societies or Fraternities based around each faculty. Each Cercle runs a bar. In order to be inducted new members are paraded through the street over night in hazing ceremonies involving eggs and other foodstuff, paint, demeaning chants etc.
Student accommodation in Belgium comes in the form of a "kot", a term having Belgian Dutch origin. The French way to form the plural of "kot" is "kots," though this sounds awkward to Dutch speakers, since "kots" means vomit in their language. (In Dutch, the plural of "kot" is "koten.") In the bilingual region of Brussels, where there are both Dutch- and French-speaking universities and their students, it is common that "for rent" signs are in French only, with the French plural of "kot".
Unique to UCL a Kot-à-projet (kap) is a kot whose inhabitants have similar interests and who organise activities for the general student population, they are similar to Fraternity and sorority houses, but smaller in size with only the committee living in the Kot. Being small several Kots can be situated in the same, university owned, apartment building. One of them is "le kap contes", a kot promoting the art of storytelling. Another is called "Kap Délices" which suggests lots of activities as theme buffets, cooking lessons, material renting and a lot of other things related to cooking.[7]
The AGL (General Assembly of Louvain students) is the UCL's Students' union. The body comprises an executive Committee, and a legislative Council. The Committee consists of ex-officio members: President, Vice-Presidents for Education & Welfare, VP for the Medicine faculty (Situated in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert), General Secretary, Activities Officer, Communications Officer, Operations Officer, Foreign student's Officer, Cultural Officer, Editor-in-Chief & Deputy Editor-in-Chief as well as the president of the Council.[8]
Quinzaine a University produced newsletter, and La Savate produced by the AGL. Cercles also produce publications.
The 24 Hour Cycle (24h Vélo) is, nominally, a bicycle endurance road race held in October, organised by CSE Animations (Centre Sportif Etudiant). While there is an elite race with teams of two, Student groups enter novelty themed multi-bike vehicles, in the shape of a Van or Whale for example, for prizes. The quality of these designs range in terms of artistic merit, and ability to stay intact over the duration of the race. A 240 minute race also takes place for teenagers. The event is probably best known for what happens off the track. Concurrent with the race is Belgium’s largest student event, with concerts and stands lasting the full 24hrs.
For pre-1968 alumni see Catholic University of Leuven.
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