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The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven in English - also the translated name of its French-speaking sister university) or K.U.Leuven is a Flemish university, located in the town of Leuven in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking (northern) region of Belgium. It was founded in 1425 by Pope Martin V as the first university in the Low Countries and is nowadays the oldest Catholic university in the world still in existence. In its early days this university was modeled after the universities of Paris, Cologne and Vienna.

In 2006, more than 30,000 students were attending classes at the 14 faculties of the University of Leuven. The K.U.Leuven is a member of the Coimbra Group as well as of the LERU Group. Since August 2005, the university is led by Marc Vervenne who replaced former rector André Oosterlinck. The Belgian archbishop, Cardinal Godfried Danneels is Grand Chancellor and member of the board.

The K.U.Leuven is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and organises an annual celebration on February 2nd in her honor. On that day, the university also awards its honorary doctorates.

In polarized Flanders, the K.U.Leuven is considered catholic, while the University of Ghent ("UGent") is atheist, the University of Antwerp ("UA") pluralist and the Free University of Brussels ("VUB") freemasonic. However, nowadays these polarized classifications are less relevant than they once were: students and staff tend to choose a university rather for pragmatic reasons - like the quality of education, the distance to the campus or even the offered opportunities - than purely for religious or philosophical reasons. It is nevertheless still unthinkable that priest-professors would teach at the VUB or the UGent or that lodge-professors would teach at the K.U.Leuven.

The main campus of the university is located in Leuven, while the French-speaking Université Catholique de Louvain is in Louvain-la-Neuve. Until 1968, there was only one University of Leuven, where both Dutch language and French language (although mostly French) were used. After repeated protests from Flemish organisations and student population, however, the University was split. The Dutch University of Leuven remained in the city of Leuven, while the French speaking Université Catholique de Louvain moved to the newly built campus of Louvain-la-Neuve, south of the linguistic border dividing Belgium (there is about a forty-five minute drive between the two universities). The main library, with all its old documents was split at that moment also. At the time of the separation, all books with an odd letter stayed in Leuven, while the even-numbered ones moved to Louvain-la-Neuve. Although this split conceptually took place, in reality, it was merely a decision based on equity and intended to create a system for negotiation. In the end, of course, rationality prevailed: bequests, serials, encyclopedias, and so on, were kept together in one location, while the remainder of books with no claim to them by either university was divided according to book number. The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven also owns the university of Kortrijk, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Afdeling Kortrijk (KULAK).

The first library was located in the university halls, and was enlarged in 1725 in baroque style. In 1914, during World War I, Leuven was plundered by German troops, and a large part of the city was put to fire, effectively destroying about half of the city. The library was lost, as well as about 300,000 books, and a huge collection of manuscripts collected since the university's founding in 1425.

The new main library was built between 1921 and 1928 and designed by the American architect Whitney Warren in low countries neorenaissance style. Its monumentality is a reflection of the victory against Prussian Germany. It is one of the largest university buildings in the city. However, in 1940, ironically, during the German armed forces invasion of Leuven, the building largely burnt down, including its (at that time) 900,000 manuscripts and books. After the reconstruction and the split of the university in 1968, nowadays the library owns about one million works.

K.U.Leuven is a strongly research oriented university (notwithstanding it has more than 30,000 students), and its ambition is to be among the top European universities in terms of scientific output. For instance, Rijndael, the cipher chosen as the Advanced Encryption Standard, was developed at K.U.Leuven.

The university is a member of the Coimbra Group and the LERU.

Faculties

  • Faculty of Theology
  • Faculty of Canon Law
  • Institute of Philosophy
  • Faculty of Law
  • Faculty of Economics and Applied Economics
  • Faculty of Social Sciences
  • Faculty of Arts
  • Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
  • Faculty of Science
  • Faculty of Engineering
  • Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
  • Faculty of Medicine
  • Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
  • Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation Sciences

Alumni

See also

External links

Flemish Brabant | Roman Catholic universities and colleges in Belgium | Pontifical Universities | 1425 establishments | Educational institutions established in the 15th century

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | 天主教鲁汶大学

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Katholieke Universiteit Leuven".

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