Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

This article deals with the Dutch- speaking Catholic University of Leuven in Leuven, for the French-speaking Catholic University of Leuven in Louvain-la-Neuve see Université catholique de Louvain .

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Catholic University of Leuven
motto	Sedes sapientiae
founding	1425
Sponsorship	ecclesiastical
place	Lions
country	Belgium
Rector	Luc Sels
Students	58,653 (2020)
Employee	11,544 (2013)
including professors	1,561
Networks	CESAER , CLUSTER , CG , FIUC , LERU
Website	www.kuleuven.be

The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven ( German  Catholic University of Leuven ) or KU Leuven (Latin name in the coat of arms of the university: Universitas catholica Lovaniensis (= Catholic University of Leuven)) is a Dutch- speaking university based in Leuven (Dutch Leuven , French Louvain ) in the Belgian region Flanders . In its current form, it emerged as a result of the division of the University of Löwen into a Dutch and a French-speaking university in 1968 in the course of the Flemish-Francophone conflict . The German translation of the old name was ambiguous as it also applied to the French-speaking Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Louvain-la-Neuve .

history

→ For the history up to 1968 see History of the Universities of Leuven

The university today

The KU Leuven is one of the most renowned universities in the world. According to the World University Rankings 2015/2016 of the Times Higher Education, the KU Leuven is in 35th place worldwide. In the academic year 2019/2020 58,653 students studied at the Catholic University of Leuven, 16% of them are foreign students. The university has 18,600 employees, an area of ​​1,000,000 m² and 26,500 rooms. There are a total of 16 faculties in Leuven:

University library, KU Leuven

• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Canon Law
• Philosophical Faculty
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Business and Economics
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Philological Faculty
• Faculty of Psychology and Education
• Medical school
• Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Faculty of Kinesiology and Rehabilitation
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Engineering
• Faculty of Bioengineering
• Faculty of Industrial Engineering
• Faculty of Architecture

The largest and oldest campus is in Leuven. The university also offers study courses in Kortrijk , Antwerp , Gent , Bruges , Ostend , Diepenbeek , Geel , Sint-Katelijne-Waver , Aalst and in Brussels .

Rectors

After the division, the following rectors headed the Catholic University of Leuven:

Rector	Term of office
Pieter De Somer	1968-1985
Roger Dillemans	1985-1995
André Oosterlinck	1995-2005
Marc Vervenne	2005-2009
Mark Waer	2009-2013
Rik Torfs	2013-2017
Luc Sels	2017-

Alumni

Pope Adrian VI college

More detailed : List of alumni of the Catholic University of Leuven

• Georges Lemaître , founder of the big bang theory
• Joan Daemen , cryptologist, one of the developers of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• Vincent Rijmen , cryptologist, one of the developers of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
• Gustavo Gutiérrez , co-founder and namesake of liberation theology
• Otto von Habsburg , publicist, politician and writer
• Affonso Felippe Gregory , Bishop of Imperatriz, President of Caritas International 1991–1998
• Emile van Dievoet , lawyer, campaigner for the rights of the Flemish, Minister
• Herman Van Rompuy , President of the European Council
• Koen Lenaerts, President of the European Court of Justice

Honorary doctors

• Hendrik Conscience (1881)
• Guido Gezelle (1888)
• Stijn Streuvels (1938)
• Corneel Heymans (1940)
• Alexander Fleming (1945)
• Paul Claudel (1946)
• Konrad Adenauer (1958)
• Robert Schuman (1958)
• Walter Hallstein (1967)
• U Thant (1968)
• Jan Tinbergen (1971)
• John Kenneth Galbraith (1972)
• Karl Rahner (1972)
• Sicco Mansholt (1973)
• Edward Schillebeeckx (1974)
• Kurt Waldheim (1975)
• Emmanuel Levinas (1976)
• Rudolf Mößbauer (1976)
• Eugène Ionesco (1977)
• Ralf Dahrendorf (1977)
• Krzysztof Penderecki (1979)
• Helmut Schmidt (1983)
• Richard von Weizsäcker (1986)
• Franz Pöggeler (1986)
• Jacques Derrida (1989)
• Roger Schutz (1990)
• Niklas Luhmann (1993)
• Joseph Stiglitz (1994)
• Helmut Kohl (1996)
• Gerard 't Hooft (1996)
• Alan Greenspan (1997)
• Martha Nussbaum (1997)
• Philippe Herreweghe (1997)
• Muhammad Yunus (1998)
• Carla Del Ponte (2002)
• Philippe, King of the Belgians (then still Crown Prince) (2002); There were protests from professors against this award.
• Mario Vargas Llosa (2003)
• Gerhard Ertl (2003)
• Roger Penrose (2005)
• Roberto Benigni (2007)
• David Grossman (2007)
• Sigrid Weigel (2007)
• Rem Koolhaas (2007)
• Bas van Fraassen (2008)
• Sari Nusseibeh (2009)
• Walter Bear (2010)
• Timothy Garton Ash (2011)
• Christian Thielemann (2012)
• Jacques Rogge (2012)
• Herman Van Rompuy (2012)
• Navanethem Pillay (2012)
• Leon Chua (2013)
• Antonio Damasio (2013)
• Dennis J. Selkoe (2013)
• Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee (2014)
• Michael Marmot (2014)
• Philippe Claudel (2015)
• Ban Ki Moon (2015)
• Michelle Bachelet (2015)
• Angela Merkel (2017)

Student associations

• Corps Flaminea Lions
• KAV Lovania Lions

literature

• Denis Valentin: The Catholic University of Leuven: 1425–1958. Lions 1958.
• De Universiteit te Leuven. Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven 1976, ISBN 90-6186-034-2 .
• Jo Tollebeek, Liesbet Nys: De stad op de berg: een geschiedenis van de Leuvense Universiteit are 1968. Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven 2005, ISBN 90-5867-479-7 .
• Chris Coppens, Mark Derez: Universiteitsbibliotheek Leuven 1425–2000. Universitaire Pers Leuven, Leuven 2005, ISBN 90-5867-466-5 .
• Richard Mathes : Leuven and Rome. On the foundation of the Catholic University of Leuven with special consideration of the church and educational policy of Pope Gregory XVI (= contributions to the recent history of Catholic theology , volume 18), Ludgerus-Verlag Wingen, Essen 1975. ISBN 3-87497-119-8 (dissertation University Bonn, Catholic Theological Faculty, [1975], 298 pages).
• Andrea-Isa Moews: Elites for Latin America: Latin American students at the University of Leuven in the 1950s and 1960s , Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-412-06200-6 (dissertation University of Hamburg 2001, 421 pages).

Web links

Commons : Katholieke Universiteit Leuven  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• University website (Dutch, English, abstracts in Chinese and French)
• The KU Leuven in a nutshell (German)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ KUL. Retrieved August 4, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Academiejaar 2019–2020 : 58,653 students (toestand op 06/01/2020) , accessed on January 7, 2020.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Feiten en cijfers (last accessed: May 31, 2015)
4. ↑ Members. In: www.fiuc.org. International Federation of Catholic Universities, accessed September 29, 2019 .  
5. ↑ "Opdrachtverklaring"
6. ↑ World University Rankings 2015–2016 . Times Higher Education (THE). September 30, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
7. ↑ Aantal international students (toestand op 06/01/2020) , accessed on January 7, 2020.
8. ↑ ^{a b} Ludo Meyvis: Kleine geschiedenis van het Leuvense eredoctoraat , January 31, 2012, accessed on January 9, 2020.
9. ↑ Leuvense eredoctoraat 1966-2013: kuleuven.be
10. ↑ " Het erfelijke eredoctoraat van de prins ", New Scientist January, 23 2002
11. ↑ " 250 KUL-wetenschappers tegen eredoctoraat Prins Filip ", De Standaard , February 1, 2002.
12. ↑ " Eredoctor Filip uitgejouwd ", De Telegraaf , February 5th of 2002.
13. ↑ Honorary doctorate for Chancellor Angela Merkel: “Europe is each and every one of us” , http://www.kuleuven.be

Coordinates: 50 ° 52 ′ 40.3 "  N , 4 ° 42 ′ 2.3"  E