K.U.Leuven

K.U.Leuven is a Catholic University in Belgium, the oldest existant Catholic university in the world and the oldest university in the Low Countries.

As stated on the web site "K.U.Leuven fulfils its mission by providing high-quality interdisciplinary research and education with a Catholic signature".

The university is located in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern part of Belgium. With the Dutch language's steady rise to renewed prominence, 1968 saw the university split into two new universities. The French-speaking Université Catholique de Louvain moved to the newly built campus in Louvain-la-Neuve. The Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universiteit Leuven remained in the historic town of Leuven.

At present, K.U.Leuven caters to more than 31,000 students, around 12% of whom are international students from more than 120 nations. In terms of its personnel, there are 5,287 academic staff, 2,730 administrative and technical staff, and 8,172 university hospital staff members. On the academic side, the university is composed of fourteen faculties, fifty departments and about 240 sub-departments. And concerning its medical facilities, K.U.Leuven supports five hospitals and three affiliated hospitals, with a total of 2,057 hospital beds for the acutely ill.

K.U.Leuven is a member of many high-profile international networks and associations such as Leru and Coimbra. K.U.Leuven affirms the important role of international cooperation in its strategy and tradition.

Since July 11, 2002, thirteen institutions of higher education in Flanders have joined forces in the K.U.Leuven Association in order to occupy a position of strength within the new European educational landscape and to work together towards quality improvements in education.

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K.U.Leuven AVnet is partner 1 of ReViCa.

See http://www.kuleuven.be.

...to understand the present and face the future

Such a rich history of nearly six hundred years has provided K.U.Leuven with its own dynamic international dimension. Today, international co-operation is regarded as essential for a modern university. Top-level research is judged according to international standards and implies interaction, co-operation, and exchange, both of researchers and results. As such, K.U.Leuven is a charter member of the League of European Research Universities, and European surveys rank K.U.Leuven among the top ten European universities in terms of its scholarly output. Likewise with regard to teaching, several quality surveys demonstrate that K.U.Leuven stands on par with internationally respected institutions in a large number of fields.

This academic reputation attracts students from all over the world. K.U.Leuven has been involved in the Erasmus student exchange programme since its launch in Europe in the late 1980s; the growing success of the Erasmus programme later on led to the launch of the Socrates programme, and today the University of Leuven has over 300 contracts under this programme. Each year around 600 international Erasmus students spend part of their study programme in Leuven, while more than 500 of our students share the same European experience at another university. The TEMPUS-PHARE programme was set up for students and researchers from Eastern Europe, while contacts with universities in the former Soviet Union are being built up through the TEMPUS-TACIS programme. The co-operation with universities in Latin America falls within the scope of the ALFA programme.

Besides these exchange programmes, the university has set up a number of international academic programmes aimed both at Belgian and international students. Unlike the regular Dutch-language programmes, the international academic programmes are taught in English. Most of these programmes confer master’s degrees: full bachelor’s degree programmes in English are offered only in the fields of theology and philosophy.

At present, K.U.Leuven caters to more than 31,000 students, around 12% of whom are international students from more than 120 nations. In terms of its personnel, there are 5,287 academic staff, 2,730 administrative and technical staff, and 8,172 university hospital staff members. With regard to its physical facilities, the university occupies a total area of 1,058,445 square metres and it has a total of 26,606 rooms. On the academic side, the university is composed of fourteen faculties, fifty departments and about 240 sub-departments. Further, its network of thirty auxiliary libraries now houses a total of 4.3 million volumes, 14,500 magazines and journals, and 7,492 full text electronic magazines. And concerning its medical facilities, K.U.Leuven supports five hospitals and three affiliated hospitals, with a total of 2,057 hospital beds for the acutely ill.

Hopefully, this has given you a more vivid picture of K.U.Leuven. K.U.Leuven's rich history can be read not only from the city's street names, but also from the dozens of historical university buildings. The medieval cloth hall, near the famous gothic town hall, is the university's administrative centre. The beautifully restored Great Beguinage houses students and guest professors. And numerous other old colleges and residence halls give Leuven the stylish face of a university town with a tradition. Where else can you find a university within a town, and indeed a 'town' within a university, so dynamically integrated? Its rich historical tradition continues to serve as a solid foundation for top-level research and centres of academic excellence. To this day, K.U.Leuven thrives as a bustling student town with a strong international allure, where various cultures meet and experiences are exchanged.