Leuven The City and the University

For more than five centuries, the University has ruled life in Leuven (the Flemish name of the city is Leuven, often Louvain in English). Leuven was founded in the 9th century and is the oldest city of the duchy of Brabant. Together with its suburbs, it now counts about 85,000 inhabitants, which makes it the fourth largest city of Flanders.

Residents of the city see the year as divided into two periods, one with students and the other without. It is a city within a university, rather than a university within a city. Perhaps it is this which gives Leuven a unique atmosphere. Faculties, departments and institutes are spread in and around the city. The facilities for the Human Sciences are located in the centre, while those for Medicine stretch from the centre to the western border of the city, as well as to Pellenberg and Lovenjoel a few kilometres away. Facilities for the Positive Sciences and the Engineering Departments are for the largest part situated in Heverlee, an addition to the old city located to the southwest.

In the city, we find the many historical buildings side by side with modern constructions, such as the buildings for the faculties of Arts, Psychology, Theology and Medicine. This construction has provided an impetus for an extraordinary expansion of the urban area and the entire region. A separate campus of the University has even been established at Kortrijk, in the western part of Belgium.

Dating from the year 1425, the University has the honour of being the oldest continuous Catholic university in the world. Throughout the centuries the University has remained an important centre of thought, maintaining close contact with the social, political, and cultural movements of the times. Until 1968, it was a single (bilingual) university. During the period 1960-1968, however, two fully autonomous units developed, one French- speaking and the other Flemish-speaking. In 1970 the University was officially divided: the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven) remained in the old city, while the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) built a new campus in Ottignies (Louvain-la-Neuve). This division of Belgium's largest university corresponds to the composition of the Belgian state, with a culturally autonomous Dutch-speaking community in the North and a French-speaking one in the South.

At the present time, the K.U. Leuven is by far the largest university in Belgium, with about 25,000 students, 1,600 of whom come from 80 foreign countries. About half of all Flemish students, and nearly a quarter of all Belgian university level students are studying in Leuven. The university community also includes more than 950 tenured professors, 2,400 assistants and 2,300 administrative officers and technical personnel. The university hospitals have a staff of more than 6,000. This makes the University one of the major employers of the country.

Notwithstanding this explosive growth, the traditions of past centuries are always combined with a dynamic outlook towards the future. Many faculties and institutes are involved in the most advanced research, often in collaboration with other universities in Belgium and abroad, with the Belgian Government and with private enterprise. In the Humanities, research in the line of Europe's greatest tradition goes hand in hand with new applications of computer technology. Many international programmes, often taught in English, continue to attract students and scholars from all continents.

The University has set up an extensive programme of students services. The Study Advice Centre supplies students with information on the various study programmes of the University. It also provides individual counselling for students who have learning disabilities. Student Social Services offer advice on social matters, financial aid, legal problems, housing, and student jobs. There is also an office for foreign students. The Psycho-medical Service has a fully qualified and specialized medical staff. The International Centre coordinates relationships with guest professors and with foreign students, especially those who have been granted a K.U. Leuven scholarship.

More info about Leuven can be found on their homepage.