Ghent University facts for kids

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Ghent University

Universiteit Gent
Seal of Ghent University
Latin: Academia Gandavensis
Former names	State University of Ghent
Motto	Sapere Aude (Latin)
Motto in English	Dare to Think/Durf Denken
Type	Public
Established	1817; 207 years ago (1817)
Rector	Rik Van de Walle
Administrative staff	9,000
Students	+44,000
Location	Ghent , Belgium
Campus	University town
Colours	UGent corporate blue & white
Affiliations	CESAER EUA The Guild SGroup

Ghent University (Dutch: Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium.

Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the region was incorporated into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands after the fall of First French Empire. In that same year, he founded two other universities for the southern provinces as well, alongside Ghent University: University of Liège and State University of Leuven.

After the Belgian revolution of 1830, the newly formed Belgian state began to administer Ghent University. In 1930, UGent became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium. Previously, French (and, even earlier, Latin) had been the standard academic language in what was Université de Gand. In 1991, it was granted major autonomy and changed its name accordingly from State University of Ghent (Dutch: Rijksuniversiteit Gent, abbreviated as RUG) to its current designation.

Located in Flanders, Ghent is one of the largest Belgian universities, consisting of 44,000 students and 9,000 staff members. The university also supports the Ghent University Library (including the famous Boekentoren) and the Ghent University Hospital, which is one of the biggest hospitals in Belgium. It is one of the greatest beneficiaries of funding from the Flemish research council.

An avowedly research-driven and socially minded university, UGent consistently rates among the top 100 universities in the world.

History

Painting of the establishment of the State University of Ghent in 1817 when the city was under Dutch rule

Foundation, in the 19th century

The university in Ghent was opened on 9 October 1817, with JC van Rotterdam serving as the first rector. The university was founded by King William I as part of a policy to stem the intellectual and academic lag in the southern part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, later to become Belgium. The original four faculties consisted of Humanities (Letters), Law, Medicine, and Science, with the language of instruction being Latin. In the first year, it had 190 students and 16 professors. In 1882, Sidonie Verhelst became the first female student at the university.

Pharmacy students during practicum (1890)

After peaking at a student population of 414, the number of students declined quickly following the Belgian Revolution. At this time, the faculties of humanities and science were broken from the university, but they were restored five years later, in 1835. At this time, French also became the language of instruction, taking the place of Latin. However, in 1903 the Flemish politician Lodewijk De Raet would lead a successful campaign to begin instruction in Dutch, and the first courses were begun in 1906.

Ghent University played a role in the foundation of modern organic chemistry. Friedrich August Kekulé (7 September 1829 – 13 July 1896) unraveled the structure of benzene at Ghent and Adolf von Baeyer (Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer), a student of August Kekulé, made contributions to organic chemistry.

2021 Boekentoren - Ghent University Library

Developments since the 20th century

During World War I, the occupying German administration conducted Flamenpolitik and turned Ghent University into the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium. A Flemish Institute (Vlaemsche Hoogeschool), commonly known as Von Bissing University, was founded in 1916 but was disestablished after the war and French language was fully reinstated. In 1923, Cabinet Minister Pierre Nolf put forward a motion to definitively establish the university as a Dutch-speaking university, and this was realized in 1930. August Vermeylen served as the first rector of a Dutch-language university in Belgium.

Student Association "Société Académique d'Histoire" (1910)

In the Second World War, the German administration of the university attempted to create a German orientation, removing faculty members and installing loyal activists.

After the war, the university became a much larger institution, following government policy of democratizing higher education in Flanders during the 1950s and 1960s. By 1953, there were more than 3,000 students, and by 1969 more than 11,500. The number of faculties increased to eleven, starting with Applied Sciences in 1957. It was followed by Economics and Veterinary Medicine in 1968, Psychology and Pedagogy, as well as Bioengineering, in 1969, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The faculty of Politics and Social Sciences is the most recent addition, in 1992. In the 1960s to 1980s, there were several student demonstrations at Ghent University, notably around the Blandijn site, which houses the Faculty of Arts & Philosophy. The severest demonstrations took place in 1969 in the wake of May 1968.

In 1991, the university officially changed its name from Rijksuniversiteit Gent (RUG) to Universiteit Gent (UGent), following an increased grant of autonomy by the government of the Flemish Community.

The university in the city: panorama of Ghent illustrating the presence of the university
1 Ufo – university forum / 2 Economics and Business Administration / 3 De Brug - university cafeteria / 4 Boekentoren – university library / 5 Ledeganck – Exact Sciences and Botanical Garden / 6 Blandijn – Humanities / 7 Plateau & Rozier – Applied Sciences / 8 Observatory Armand Pien / 9 Therminal – Student Society Building / 10 UZ – Medicine & Health Sciences / 11 Home Boudewijn

Academic profile

Aula academica

Organisation and structure

Ghent University consists of eleven faculties with over 130 individual departments. In addition, the university maintains the Zwijnaarde science park and Greenbridge science park.

List of faculties

• Faculty of Arts and Philosophy
• Faculty of Bio-science Engineering
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Sciences
• Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
• Faculty of Engineering and Architecture
• Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
• Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
• Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Faculty of Political and Social Sciences

Library

Standing on the Blandijnberg, the Boekentoren houses the Ghent University Library, which contains nearly 3 million volumes. The university library has joined the Google Books Library Project. Among other notable collections, it preserves Papyrus 30, an early manuscript of the Greek New Testament.

The university is also a partner in the development of De Krook, the new public library and media center in the center of Ghent, opened in 2017.

UGent boekentoren (right), St Bavo's Cathedral (left)

Reputation & rankings

Ghent University consistently ranks among the top 100 universities in the world and, alongside the Catholic University of Leuven, the best in Belgium. In 2017, it was ranked, globally, 69th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai ranking) and 125th by QS World University Rankings. For 2021, Ghent University has been ranked, worldwide, 85th by U.S. News & World Report and 96th by Times Higher Education.

International relations

Ufo campus - university forum

UGent Boekentoren

The university maintains many partnerships within Belgium, across Europe, and throughout the world. For instance, Ghent University supports the Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms and the Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie. Within Europe, it is a member of the Santander Network and the U4 Network. It also participates in the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research. In addition, the university cooperates with numerous universities for the Erasmus and Erasmus Mundus programs; within the framework of the latter, it heads the International Master of Science in Rural Development and the International Master of Science in Soils and Global Change (IMSOGLO).

Outside of Europe, Ghent University conducts exchange programs on all six continents.

Associated contributions and innovations

Ghent University has been instrumental in the development of COinS and Unipept.

Gallery

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  Rommelaere Instituut

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  Law School

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  Rectorate

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  Botanical garden

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  The Boekentoren, designed by Henry van de Velde, is one of the most famous university buildings

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  The Technicum, or Faculty of Engineering

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  Aula Academica

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  Faculty of Bioengineering

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  The Blandijn houses the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy

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  UGent Campus in Kortrijk

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  Faculty of Psychology

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  Library of the department of Architecture and Urbanism

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  Boekentoren

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  UGent Boekentoren

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  Library of the Humanities Faculty

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  Museum of Zoology

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  Institute for Anatomy

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  Rectorate

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People

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  Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, statesman

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  Henri Pirenne, historian

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  George de Hevesy, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry

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  Maurice Maeterlinck, Nobel Prize winner in Literature

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  Corneel Heymans, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine

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  Marguerite Legot, first female government minister in Belgium

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  Yaakov Dori, president of the Technion, Haifa

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  Suzanne Lilar, feminist writer

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  Jozef Schell (right), molecular biologist

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  Marc van Montagu, molecular biologist

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  Robert Cailliau, co-inventor of the World Wide Web

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  Guy Verhofstadt, politician

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  Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, jurist and diplomat

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  Hélène Mallebrancke (1902-1940) Civil engineer and Belgian Resistance member in Second World War

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

• S.N. Balagangadhara (born 1952), comparative science of cultures
• George de Hevesy (1885–1966), Nobel Prize winner, Chemistry
• François Laurent (1810–1887), historian and jurisconsult
• Jan De Maeseneer (born 1952), medicine, family medicine
• Georges De Moor (born 1953), medicine, medical informatics
• Walter Fiers (1931-2019), molecular biologist
• Corneille Heymans (1892–1968), physiologist (Nobel prize winner)
• Joseph Plateau (1801–1883), physicist
• Xavier Saelens (born 1965), biotechnology
• Jeff Schell (1935–2003), biotech pioneer
• Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), physicist (Nobel Prize winner), visiting scholar
• Johan Rudolf Thorbecke (1798–1872), statesman
• Marc Van Montagu (born 1933), biotech pioneer
• August Vermeylen (1872–1945), author, art historian, statesman
• Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917), chemist (Nobel prize winner), visiting scholar
• August Kekulé (1829–1896), chemist

Rectors

Recipients of honorary doctorates

See also

In Spanish: Universidad de Gante para niños