Katholieke Universiteit Leuven[a] | |
 | |
| Latin:Universitas catholica Lovaniensis[1] | |
Other name | Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven[b] |
|---|---|
| Motto | Sedes Sapientiae (Latin) |
Motto in English | Seat of Wisdom |
| Type | Publicly-funded Catholic university |
| Established | 1425 asStudium Generale Lovaniense (predecessor institution) 1834 asCatholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) 1970 (split) |
Academic affiliation | CESAER CLUSTER Coimbra Group EASN Association EUA Europaeum EQUIS LERU VIU TPC Una Europa Universitas 21 |
| Budget | €1.5 billion (operating revenue, FY 2024)[2] |
| Chairman | Marianne Thyssen |
| Chancellor | Jozef De Kesel |
| Rector | Severine Vermeire |
Administrative staff | 11,534 |
| Students | 65,534 (2023–24)[3] |
| 7,440 (2023–24)[4] | |
| Location | , Belgium 50°52′41″N4°42′00″E / 50.878°N 4.700°E /50.878; 4.700 |
| Campus | Main (urban/university town) campus inLeuven and satellite campuses inAalst,Antwerp,Bruges,Brussels,Diepenbeek,Genk,Geel,Ghent,Kortrijk andSint-Katelijne-Waver |
| Colors | Blue and white |
| Mascot | Fons Sapientiae |
| Website | kuleuven.be |
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 | |
KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)[5][a] is a Catholicresearch university in the city ofLeuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in theLow Countries.
In addition to its main campus in Leuven, it hassatellite campuses inKortrijk,Antwerp,Ghent,Bruges,Ostend,Geel,Diepenbeek,Genk,Aalst,Sint-Katelijne-Waver, and in Belgium's capitalBrussels.[6] KU Leuven is the largest university in Belgium and theLow Countries and the largest Dutch-language university in the world. In 2021–22, more than 65,000 students were enrolled, with 21% being international students.[7] Its primary language of instruction is Dutch, although several programs are taught in English, particularly graduate and postgraduate degrees.[8][9]
KU Leuven previously only accepted baptized Catholics,[when?] but is now open to students from different faiths or life-stances.[10][11]
While nowadays only the acronymic name KU Leuven is used, the university's legal name isKatholieke Universiteit Leuven, officiallyKatholieke Universiteit te Leuven,[b] which translates in English as Catholic University of Leuven.[a] However, the acronymic name is not translated in official communications, like its similarly named French-language sister universityUniversité catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain).
The town of Leuven has been the seat of four universities, with the first one established in 1425. Since then, the organisation was abolished and founded again multiple times.
The Old University of Leuven (orStudium Generale Lovaniense) was founded in 1425 by DukeJohn IV of Brabant, the civil authorities of Brabant, as well as the municipal administration of the city of Leuven,[12] despite the initial opposition of the chapter of Sint-Pieter.[13] For centuries, the university flourished due to the presence of famous scholars and professors, such as Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens (Pope Adrian VI),Desiderius Erasmus,Johannes Molanus,Juan Luís Vives,Andreas Vesalius andGerardus Mercator.
After the French Revolution, the university was formally integrated into the French Republic when the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I, ceded thenAustrian Netherlands to France by theTreaty of Campo Formio[14] signed on 17 October 1797. A law dating to 1793, which mandated that all universities in France be closed, came into effect.[15] The old University of Leuven was abolished by decree of theDépartement of the Dyle on October 25, 1797.[16]
A few years afterFrench rule came to an end, when Belgium was part of theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands, kingWilliam I of the Netherlands in 1817 founded a secular university in Leuven, theState University of Leuven, where many professors of the Old University of Leuven taught. This university was abolished in 1835.
TheCatholic University of Leuven was founded in 1834 inMechelen[17] by the bishops of Belgium, after an officialPapal Brief ofPope Gregory XVI. This new Catholic university stayed only briefly in Mechelen, as the bishops already moved the university headquarters toLeuven on 1 December 1835, where it took the name Catholic University of Leuven. This occurred after the closure of theState University of Leuven in 1835, where many professors of the Old University of Leuven had taught. KU Leuven is generally (but controversially) identified as a continuation of the older institution; controversy lays in the fact that this link to the Old University cannot be maintained from a purely juridical perspective[18] as the Old University was suppressed under French rule.[c] In its statutes, KU Leuven officially declares against the rulings of the Court of Cassation[19] and the Cour d'Appel, to be the continuation of theStudium Generale Lovaniense established in 1425,[20] and together withUCLouvain it sets out to celebrate its 600th anniversary in 2025.[21] The original establishment during medieval times and subsequent re-foundation at a later period represents a fate shared by the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) with several other well-known European universities that experienced the upheavals of revolutionary times. In 1920, the Catholic University of Leuven for the first time admitted female students,[22] lagging some 40 years behind the Belgian universities of Brussels, Liège and Ghent.[23]
In 1968, tensions between the Dutch-speaking and French-speaking communities led to thesplitting of the bilingualCatholic University of Leuven into two "sister" universities, with the Dutch-language university becoming a fully functioning independent institution in Leuven in 1970, and theUniversité catholique de Louvain departing to a newly built greenfield campus site in the French-speaking part of Belgium. KU Leuven's first rector after the split wasPieter De Somer.
In 1972, the university set up a separate entity, Leuven Research & Development (LRD), to support industrial and commercial applications of university research. It has led to numerous spin-offs, such as the technology company Metris, and manages tens of millions of euros in investments and venture capital.[24]
The university's electronic learning environment, TOLEDO, which started in September 2001, was gradually developed into the central electronic learning environment at the KUL. The word is an acronym forTOetsen en LEren Doeltreffend Ondersteunen (English: "effectively supporting testing and learning"). It is the collective name for a number of commercial software programs and tools, such asBlackboard. The project offers the Question Mark Perception assignment software to all institution members and has implemented theAriadne KPS to reuse digital learning objects inside the Blackboard environment.
On 11 July 2002, the KU Leuven became the dominant institution in the "KU Leuven Association" (see below).
KU Leuven is a member of theCoimbra Group (a network of leading European universities) as well as of theLERU Group (League of European Research Universities). Since November 2014, KU Leuven's Faculty of Economics and Business is accredited byEuropean Quality Improvement System, which is a leading accreditation system specializing in higher education institutions of management and business administration.[25] As of academic year of 2012–2013, the university held Erasmus contracts with 434 European establishments. It also had 22 central bilateral agreements in 8 countries: the United States, China, South Africa, Japan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Poland, and the Netherlands. The vast majority of international EU students came from the Netherlands, while most non-EU ones come from China.
Even though the university is financially independent from the Catholic Church, representatives from theCatholic Archdiocese of Mechelen–Brussels sit on the Board of Trustees, and are yielded chairmanship powers and veto powers in certain decisions.[26]
In December 2011, the university changed its official name to KU Leuven in all official communications and branding.[27][28] While its legal name remains to be Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the university uses its short name or acronym, KU Leuven, in all communications, including academic research publications.[5] The long name is only used in legally binding documents such as contracts and only on the first instance, according to university's communication guidelines. According to its then rector, the change is intended as a way to emphasize its history of freedom of academic inquiry and its independence from the Church, without erasure of its Catholic heritage.[27]
Since August 2017, the university has been led byLuc Sels who replaced formerrectorRik Torfs. TheBelgianarchbishop,Luc Terlinden is the currentGrand Chancellor and a member of the universityboard.
KU Leuven hosts the world's largestbananagenebank, theBioversity InternationalMusa Germplasm Transit Centre, that celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2017 and was visited by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation,Alexander De Croo.[29]
In 2018, a student of African origin,Sanda Dia, died during a cruel hazing ritual to enter theReuzegom fraternity.[30] The perpetrators, whose parents mostly belong to the upper class,[31] are being prosecuted, but were so far only lightly sanctioned by the university authorities.[32][33] As a consequence of these events, which attracted international media coverage,[34] the institution received criticism as to how it handled the matter. In 2023, 18 students were fined 400 Euros and community service for their involvement in the death and the degrading treatment.[35]
Historically, theCatholic University of Leuven has been a major contributor to the development of Catholic theology. The university is dedicated toMary, the mother of Jesus, under her traditional attribute as "Seat of Wisdom", and organizes an annual celebration on2 February in her honour. On that day, the university also awards itshonorary doctorates. The neo-Gothic seal created in 1909 and used by the university shows the medieval statueOur Lady of Leuven in avesica piscis shape. The version used by KU Leuven dates from the 1990s and features the date 1425 inTimes New Roman.
KU Leuven's main campus is inLeuven where school faculties, libraries, institutes, residence halls, the university hospitalUZ Leuven, and other facilities are interspersed throughout the city proper, as well as just outside its ring road in Heverlee borough.[36] Its intercultural meeting center Pangaea is located in the city center. The University Sports Centre is located in Heverlee, including Univ-Fit gym. In addition, theUNESCO World Heritage SiteGroot Begijnhof, a historicbeguinage in the south of city, is owned by the university and functions as one of its many residence halls.
Public transport within the city is primarily served by the De Lijn bus system. Leuven is a main hub in Belgium's and nearby country's train network. Leuven station is located in the northeast edge of the city.
KU Leuven has campuses inKortrijk,Antwerp,Ghent,Bruges,Ostend,Geel,Diepenbeek,Aalst,Sint-Katelijne-Waver,Brussels.
Academics at KU Leuven is organized into three groups, each with its own faculties, departments, and schools offering programs up to doctoral level. While most courses are taught in Dutch, many are offered in English, particularly the graduate programs.[37] Notable divisions of the university include theInstitute of Philosophy and theRega Institute for Medical Research.
The students of the university are gathered together in the student council Studentenraad KU Leuven.[38]
KU Leuven has 24 libraries and learning centers across its 12 campuses, containing millions of books and other media. Its theology library alone hold 1.3 million volumes, including works dating from the 15th century.[39] The following libraries are found at its Leuven campus:[40]
Universitair ziekenhuis Leuven (UZ Leuven) is the teaching hospital associated with the KU Leuven. Its most well known and largest campus is Gasthuisberg, which also houses the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences and most of the faculty of medicine.
KU Leuven scientists have managed to produce asolar hydrogen panel, which is able to directly convert no less than 15 per cent of sunlight intohydrogen gas, which according to them is a world record.[41][42][43][44] In the solar hydrogen panel the hydrogen andoxygen evolutionreactions are performed in thegas phase incathode andanode compartments separated by amembrane.Anion exchange membranes provide analkaline environment enabling the use ofearth abundant materials aselectrocatalysts.[42]
According toIEEE Spectrum in 2019 this is a giant leap from 0.1% efficiency 10 years earlier.[44]
This technology bypasses the conversion losses of the classicalsolar–hydrogen energy cycle wheresolar power is first harvested via asolar panel and only then to converted to hydrogen withelectrolysis plants.
Since July 2002, thirteen higher education institutes have formed theKU Leuven Association. Members include:[45]
KU Leuven is a member of a number of international university affiliations including theLeague of European Research Universities,Coimbra Group,Una Europa,Universitas 21, andVenice International University, among others.
The university is a member of theFlanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology. TheInteruniversity Microelectronics Centre is a spin-off company of the university.
KU Leuven publishesJura Falconis, a student-edited law review of the Faculty of Law. It was founded by a group of students from the Law Faculty of theKatholieke Universiteit Leuven who, in 1964, conceived the idea of producing their own law journal grafted on the famous American law reviews.
Every year,Jura Falconis organizes theJura FalconisPrijs, an award for the best legal dissertation. Students at Flemishfaculties of law submit their dissertations, which are judged by a panel of professors of law, including a judge of theBelgian Court of Cassation.
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[46] | 78 (2024) |
| CWUR World[47] | 103 (2024) |
| CWTS World[48] | 61 (2024) |
| QS World[49] | 63 (2025) |
| Reuters World[50] | 7 (2019) |
| THE World[51] | 43 (2025) |
| USNWR Global[52] | 48 (2024-25) |
| National – Overall | |
| ARWU National[46] | 1 (2024) |
| CWTS National[48] | 1 (2024) |
| CWUR National[47] | 1 (2024) |
| QS National[53] | 1 (2025) |
| THE National[54] | 1 (2025) |
| USNWR National[52] | 1 (2024-25) |
As of 2024, KU Leuven ranks high in themajor international rankings, i.e. 63rd in theQS World University Rankings, 43rd in theTimes Higher Education rankings, and 78th according to the ShanghaiAcademic Ranking of World Universities.[46][49][51] And as stated by other prominent global rankings in 2024, the university is ranked 48th in theU.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Ranking, 61st in theCWTS Leiden Ranking and 103rd in theCenter for World University Rankings.[47][48][52] Furthermore, in their 2019 rankings of theWorld's Most Innovative Universities, Thomson Reuters placed KU Leuven 7th in the world and best university in Europe (1st), four times in a row since its founding in 2016.[50][55]
According to QS World University Rankings by Subject in 2019, KU Leuven ranked within the world's top 50 universities in the following fields: Sports-related Subjects (11), Theology (14), Dentistry (17), Classics and Ancient History (22), Library and Information Management (23), Psychology (24), Statistics and Operational Research (26), Mechanical Engineering (30), Philosophy (31), Geography (34), Pharmacy & Pharmacology (35), Education and Training (36), Law (37), Social Policy and Administration (39), Development Studies (43), Materials sciences (45), Chemical Engineering (46), Politics (49), Sociology (50), Life Sciences and Medicine (56), Social Sciences and Management (60), Arts and Humanities (61), Engineering and Technology (61). Also according to QS, many other KU Leuven programs rank within the top 100 in the world, including Linguistics, English Language and Literature, History, Anatomy and Physiology, Architecture, Anthropology, Computer Science and Information System, Biological Sciences, Civil and Structural Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Business and Management Studies, Mathematics, Economics and Econometrics, Chemistry, Accounting and Finance .[56]
| Year | World university ranking | European university ranking | World reputation ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 86 (QS 21) |119 (THE) | 35 (QS 14) |37 (THE) | |
| 2012 | 68 (QS 18) |67 (THE 52) | 24 (QS 11) |17 (THE 20) | 81-90 (THE) |
| 2013 | 82 (QS 14) |58 (THE 9) | 31 (QS 7) |13 (THE 4) | 81-90 (THE ) |
| 2014 | 77 (QS 5) |61 (THE 3) | 29 (QS 2) |17 (THE 4) | 71-80 (THE) |
| 2015 | 82 (QS 5) |55 (THE 6) |96 (ARWU) | 31 (QS 2) |13 (THE 4) |32 (ARWU) | 71-80 (THE) |
| 2016 | 82 (QS) |35 (THE 20) |90 (ARWU 6) | 31 (QS) |12 (THE 1) |32 (ARWU) | 51-60 (THE) |
| 2017 | 79 (QS 3) |40 (THE 5) |93 (ARWU 3) | 26 (QS 5) |12 (THE) |32 (ARWU) | 51-60 (THE) |
| 2018 | 71(QS 8) |47 (THE 7) |90 (ARWU 3) | 21 (QS 5) |14 (THE 2) |31 (ARWU 1) | 71-80 (THE) |
| 2019 | 48 (THE 1) |86 (ARWU 4) | 15 (THE ) |28 (ARWU 3) | 51-60 (THE) |
On 20 May 2025, Severine Vermeire was elected as the first female rector of KU Leuven in the university's history, winning with 51.9 % of the votes in the university's electoral college.[57] Her election marked a historic milestone for the institution, which was previously only been led by male rectors.
| # | Name | Began office | Ended office | Studies | Vice-rector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pieter De Somer | 1968 | 1985 | Medicine | |
| 2 | Roger Dillemans [nl] | 1985 | 1995 | Law | |
| 3 | André Oosterlinck [nl] | 1995 | 2005 | Engineering | |
| 4 | Marc Vervenne | 2005 | 2009 | Theology | Mark Waer |
| 5 | Mark Waer | 2009 | 2013 | Medicine | |
| 6 | Rik Torfs | 2013 | 2017 | Canon Law | |
| 7 | Luc Sels | 2017 | August 1st, 2025 | Economics | |
| 8 | Severine Vermeire | August 1st, 2025 | 2029 | Medicine |
 |
|
Notable recipients of honorary doctorates at the KU Leuven include:
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)A research team in Belgium says its prototype panel can produce 250 liters of hydrogen gas per day
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