Ghent University

Ghent University (Dutch: Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. It was established in 1817 by King William I of the Netherlands. After the Belgian revolution of 1830, the newly formed Belgian state began to administer the university. In 1930, the university became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium, whereas French had previously 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.

Ghent University
Universiteit Gent
Seal of Ghent University
Latin: Academia Gandavensis
Former names
State University of Ghent
MottoInter Utrumque (Latin)
Motto in English
In Between Both
TypePublic
Established1817 (1817)
RectorRik Van de Walle
Administrative staff
9,000
Students+44,000
Location
Ghent
,
Belgium
CampusUniversity town
ColoursUGent corporate blue & White [1]
         
AffiliationsCESAER
Erasmus Student Network
European University Association
Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities
Santander Network
Websitewww.ugent.be

In contrast to the Catholic University of Leuven or the Free University of Brussels, UGent considers itself a pluralist university in a special sense, i.e. not connected to any particular religion or political ideology. Its motto Inter Utrumque ('In Between Both Extremes'), on the coat of arms, suggests the acquisition of wisdom and science comes only in an atmosphere of peace, when the institution is fully supported by the monarchy and fatherland.

Ghent University is one of the biggest Flemish universities, consisting of 44,000 students and 9,000 staff members. The University also supports the University Library and the University Hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals in Belgium. It is one of the greatest beneficiaries of funding from the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO). Ghent University consistently rates among the top 100 universities in the world .

History

Foundation, in the 19th century
Painting of the establishment of the State University of Ghent in 1817 when the city was under Dutch rule

The university in Ghent was opened on October 9, 1817, with JC van Rotterdam serving as the first rector. In the first year, it had 190 students and 16 professors. The original four faculties consisted of Humanities (Letters), Law, Medicine and Science, and the language of instruction was Latin. 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.

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. 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.

In 1882, Sidonie Verhelst became the first female student at the university.

French became the language of instruction, taking the place of Latin, after the 1830 Revolution. In 1903, the Flemish politician Lodewijk De Raet led a successful campaign to begin instruction in Dutch, and the first courses were begun in 1906.

Ghent University 1910 – Studentenvereniging Société Académique d'Histoire

Developments since the 20th century
Universiteitsforum 2010PM 0603 21H7975

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.[2]

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.[3] 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

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[4]
  • Faculty of Bio-science Engineering[5]
  • Faculty of Law[6]
  • Faculty of Sciences[7]
  • Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences[8]
  • Faculty of Engineering and Architecture[9]
  • Faculty of Economics and Business Administration[10]
  • Faculty of Veterinary Medicine[11]
  • Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences[12]
  • Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences[13]
  • Faculty of Political and Social Sciences[14]

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.

Ugent boekentoren 675

Reputation & rankings
University rankings
Global – Overall
ARWU World[15]66 (2019)
CWTS World[16]61 (2019)
THE World[17]123 (2020)
USNWR Global[18]87 (2020)
QS World[19]120 (2020)

Ghent University consistently ranks among the best 100 universities in the world. In 2017, it was ranked, globally, 69th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai ranking)[20] and 125th by QS World University Rankings.[21] For 2018, Ghent University has been ranked, worldwide, 88th by U.S. News & World Report[22] and 107th by Times Higher Education.[23]

International relations
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).[24]

Outside of Europe, Ghent University conducts exchange programs on all six continents.[25]

Associated contributions and innovations

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

  • Rommelaere Instituut
  • Law School
  • Rectorate
  • Botanical garden
  • The Boekentoren, designed by Henry van de Velde, is one of the most famous university buildings
  • The Technicum, or Faculty of Engineering
  • Aula Academica
  • Faculty of Bioengineering
  • The Blandijn houses the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy
  • UGent Campus in Kortrijk
  • Faculty of Psychology
  • Library of the department of Architecture and Urbanism
  • Boekentoren
  • UGent Boekentoren
  • Library of the Humanities Faculty
  • Museum of Zoology
  • Institute for Anatomy

People
  • Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, statesman
  • Henri Pirenne, historian
  • George de Hevesy, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
  • Maurice Maeterlinck, Nobel Prize winner in Literature
  • Corneille Heymans, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine
  • Marguerite Legot, first female government minister in Belgium
  • Yaakov Dori, president of the Technion, Haifa
  • Suzanne Lilar, feminist writer
  • Jozef Schell (right), molecular biologist
  • Marc van Montagu, molecular biologist
  • Robert Cailliau, co-inventor of the World Wide Web
  • Guy Verhofstadt, politician
  • Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, jurist and diplomat

Notable alumni

Notable faculty

List of rectors
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See also

Notes and references
  1. Basic principles: Corporate colours – website of the UGent
  2. A Language Come Back, TIME Magazine, April 28, 1923
  3. Danniau, Fien. "Haard van verzet" (in Dutch). UGent Memorie. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
  4. Vervaeke, Ann. "Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte – Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte".
  5. Vervaeke, Ann. "Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte – Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte".
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2013-04-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Faculty of Sciences — Ghent University".
  8. "Faculteit Geneeskunde en Gezondheidswetenschappen — Universiteit Gent".
  9. "Faculty of Engineering and Architecture — Ghent University".
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-03. Retrieved 2013-04-06.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Faculty of Veterinary Medicine — Ghent University".
  12. "Faculteit Psychologie en Pedagoghische Wetenschappen (FPPW)".
  13. "Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences — Ghent University".
  14. "Faculty of Political and Social Sciences — Ghent University".
  15. "Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019". ShanghaiRanking. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  16. "CWTS Leiden Ranking 2019". ). Retrieved 2019-09-23.
  17. "World University Rankings 2020 - Ghent University". Times Higher Education (THE). Retrieved 2019-09-22.
  18. "Best Global Universities 2020". U.S. News Education. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  19. "QS World University Rankings 2020". QS Top Universities. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-07-15.
  20. "Shanghai Ranking 2017 Results".
  21. "QS Top Universities Ranking 2014–2015". 16 July 2015.
  22. "Best Global Universities 2018".
  23. "The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014–2015". timeshighereducation.com. 17 April 2020.
  24. "Home". IMSOGLO. Retrieved 2019-02-20.
  25. "Bestemmingen — Studentenportaal — Universiteit Gent". ugent.be.
  26. "Daskalidès, Jean (1922–1992) | UGentMemorie". Ugentmemorie.be. 16 August 2010. Retrieved 2013-10-15.

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