UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles | |
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Other name | UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels |
|---|---|
Former names | Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles(2013-2018) Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis(1929–2012) Faculté universitaire Saint-Louis |
| Motto | Sedes Sapientiae(Latin) |
Motto in English | Seat of Wisdom, Seat of Knowledge |
| Type | Free university (state funded) |
| Established | 1857 (169 years ago) (1857) |
Parent institution | UCLouvain |
Religious affiliation | Roman Catholicism |
Academic affiliations | Académie Louvain IFCU EUA AUF |
| Budget | €39,785,004 (2018)[1] |
| Rector | Pierre Jadoul |
Academic staff | 403 |
Administrative staff | 104 |
| Students | 4,482[2] (2021) |
| 64 | |
| Location | , 1000 ,50°51′11.21″N4°21′40.59″E / 50.8531139°N 4.3612750°E /50.8531139; 4.3612750 |
| Campus | Saint-Louis (urban);Marie Haps (urban) |
| Colours | Saint-Louis Red & Louvain Blue |
| Website | www.usaintlouis.be |
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Saint-Louis University, Brussels, also known asUCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels, is an autonomous university campus specialized insocial andhuman sciences part ofUCLouvain and based inBrussels, Belgium.
Established in 1857,Saint-Louis University, Brussels (officially, in FrenchUniversité Saint-Louis – Bruxelles) used to be apublic university belonging to theFrench Community of Belgium before a merger with theUniversity of Louvain decided in 2017. Both universities have been using the new designation 'UCLouvain' since 2018 and legally merged in 2023.
When theCatholic University of Belgium moved fromMechelen toLeuven in 1835, the unused buildings were used to host the newly foundedÉcole de Commerce et d'Industrie (School of Trade and Industry), which was inaugurated in 1838.[3]
The school moved to Brussels in 1858 and became theInstitut Saint-Louis (a diocesan secondary school), where the Philosophy Department was founded, which eventually grew to become a university. This was the result of theCatholic clergy's andPope Pius IX's wish to have a Catholic institution in Brussels teachingphilosophy. The department prepared candidates for the higherliberal arts certification that would qualify them to enroll for a university law degree.[4]
In 1891, with the recognition of non-state universities, the institution became recognized as an autonomous ('free') university, a status which was confirmed in 1929.
Over time, Faculties developed and expanded, and a Faculty of Law was added to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters.
In 1925, the university foundedHEC Saint-Louis [fr] (Hautes études commerciales), Belgium's first independent business school, together with itsDutch-speaking counterpart,EHSAL (St. Aloysius College of Economics). Also, the university established the world-renowned School of Philosophical and Religious Sciences, founded byCardinal Mercier.
In 1948, the Philosophy and Arts section separated from theInstitut Saint-Louis, and continued independently as a non-profit university under the name "Faculté universitaire Saint-Louis". It was not until 1960 that the administrative split was fully effective and the buildings separated.[5]
In 1965, the Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences (ESPO) was established and the university's name was later changed to the pluralFacultés universitaires Saint-Louis.
In 1969, Saint-Louis starts giving lectures toDutch-speaking students, in addition to lessons at EHSAL/HEC, but the Dutch-speaking department would leave theFacultés universitaires Saint-Louis in 1973, to create the independentUniversitaire Faculteiten Sint-Aloysius (UFSAL). This later became theCatholic University of Brussels (K.U.Brussel). Both UFSAL and EHSAL merged to create theHogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), together with otherFlemish institutions likeVlekho, which originated from the Saint-Louis-linkedInstitut libre Marie Haps. In 2013, HUB was reorganized and today comprises theKU Leuven campus Brussel, and the vocational collegeOdisee. Both are still located in the same street as Saint-Louis University, therue du Marais orBroekstraat.
French-speaking HEC Saint-Louis, which was renamed to ISC Saint-Louis (Institut supérieur de Commerce), co-founded the "ICHEC - ISC Saint-Louis - ISFSC" Consortium of Schools in 1995, andde facto integrated theInstitut catholique des Hautes Études commerciales (ICHEC) in 2004. Saint-Louis University, Brussels still organises degrees in economics, management and business engineering, on the same site as the ISC Saint-Louis, within its Faculty of Economics, Politics, Social and Communication Sciences (ESPO).
Between 2004 and 2013, Saint-Louis University and the three other Belgian French-speaking Catholic universities; namely theUniversity of Namur, theUniversité catholique de Louvain and theFacultés universitaires catholiques de Mons (now a part of UCLouvain) made up theAcadémie universitaire Louvain network.[6] This notably meant the integration of Saint-Louis' economics and management programmes into theLouvain School of Management. After the reform ofBelgian French-speaking universities in 2013, Saint-Louis became a founding member of thePôle académique de Bruxelles, along with theUniversité libre de Bruxelles and, by decree, was renamed fromFacultés universitaires Saint-Louis toUniversité Saint-Louis - Bruxelles.
In May 2017, Saint-Louis University, Brussels and theUniversity of Louvain (primarily based inLouvain-la-Neuve and which has 2 campuses in Brussels:Woluwe andSaint-Gilles) officially announced that the two universities were merging in a single institution named UCLouvain, with Saint-Louis becoming 'UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles'.[7] Both institutions have started using the name UCLouvain in September 2018.
Saint-Louis' main campus is located on the northern edge of the historic inner city, opposite theBotanical Garden of Brussels across thesmall ring road. In 2015, the department and programmes of translation and interpreting of theInstitut libre Marie Haps were transferred to the newly establishedMarie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at Saint-Louis University, Brussels.[8] This fifth Faculty is located in buildings along therue d'Arlon, near theEuropean Parliament.
In 2004, a fire destroyed offices and a large part of the historic library building was flooded following the intervention of the fire brigade. A new library was built and inaugurated in 2005, while some elements of the old library remain (including part of the imposing wooden staircase). The university's main library moved to the third and fourth floors of the new Ommegang building in 2018.
In 2015, the university indeed acquired an office building belonging toBelfius bank, the Ommegang, next to the University's building located at 109 rue du Marais, in order to relieve the institution's infrastructure, whose number of students tripled in fifteen years.[13] Newlecture theatres were built, including the institution's largest auditorium, a new library, a new multi-purpose room for 1300 people, and a residence with about 100 student apartments. The new facilities are accessible since the 2017 academic year, increasing the surface area of the main Saint-Louis campus from 25,000 m² to 47,000 m².[14]
Saint-Louis University is located on two campuses inBrussels andIxelles. The main campus, Saint-Louis, with 48 km² of university space, is located in the city centre, between therue de l'Ommegang anddu Marais, as well as theboulevardsdu Jardin botanique andPachéco.[14] This tight urban campus is split in two by theInstitut secondaire Saint-Louis, forming to the north the "Botanique" and "Préfecture" buildings housing the Institute of European Studies (Marais 119), theuniversity press (Botanique 42), the university's official main building (Botanique 43) and the historical building with therectorate (Botanique 38) and the former library; and to the south the more recentMarais 109 andOmmegang buildings, where the faculty and student administrations are located, and several large auditoriums.[15]
The courses of theMarie Haps Faculty Translation & Interpreting are given on the Marie-Haps campus, shared with theHaute École Vinci, inIxelles, in theEuropean quarter, more precisely in front of theEuropean Parliament. The buildings of the Marie-Haps campus are located on either side ofrue d'Arlon and historically in the HôtelBeernaert.[15] The language courses (extra-curricular) are given in an office building further north, between rue d'Arlon and rue de Trèves, where Marie-Haps' Dutch-speaking departments (which have integrated theErasmushogeschool Brussel andVlekho) used to be located.
TheMarie-Haps Faculty is also located on the Tilleuls site, formerŒuvre du Calvaire hospital, which integrated theSaint-Luc University Hospital inUCLouvain Brussels Woluwe in 2003. The Tilleuls site includes a large country house, a caretaker's house, a chapel and the former hospital transformed into classrooms, located on theChaussée de Wavre.
Students enrolled at Saint-Louis University, Brussels on 1 December (excluding doctoral students).[16] The university took the name Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles instead of FUSL during the 2013–2014 academic year.
Saint-Louis University, Brussels is specialized inundergraduate programmes, for which it has developed unique degrees. For example, it is the only Belgian university organising bilingual or trilingualbachelor's (with its sister university,KU Leuven campus Brussels);Erasmus programmes in social and human sciences; evening schedules; and the possibility of completing doublebachelor's degrees in the majority ofmajors. It is also the only university of theWallonia-Brussels Federation offering a fully English bachelor's degree; inbusiness engineering.[17]
In total, the university organises 25Bachelor programmes, twoMaster's degrees, anExecutive master's degree, seven Masters of specialization (postgraduate master's degrees) and more than 20 university certificates ofcontinuing education. Most Master's diplomas and university certificates are double degrees with one or moreBelgian or foreign universities.
Since its foundation, Saint-Louis has distinguished itself by its university character, which is to produce knowledge in addition to offering it. The first research centres were set up at the end of the 19th century. In 1995, the decree organizing higher education granted the University the right to organize doctoral theses, further contributing to the expansion of research.
The university organises research through three research institutes:
and variousresearch centers:
Saint-Louis University, Brussels has also founded the Brussels Studies Institute together with the two other Brussels universities:Université libre de Bruxelles andVrije Universiteit Brussel.
The School of Philosophical and Religious Sciences, founded in 1925 bycardinal Mercier, is not a research center nor a faculty, but continues to teach and study philosophy, theology and social and human sciences, to which it has been a major contributor. Chairs of the School of Philosophical and Religious Sciences are always public and have includedPaul Ricœur,Michel Serres,Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe,Cornelius Castoriadis,Jean-Luc Nancy,Jacques Lacan,Tzvetan Todorov,Alain Touraine andPierre Bourdieu.
