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University rankings
University rankings
Global – Overall
ARWU World	84 (2023)
CWUR World	118 (2020-21)
CWTS World	75 (2020)
QS World	=159 (2024)
Reuters World	98 (2019)
THE World	115 (2024)
USNWR Global	=95 (2023)
National – Overall
ARWU National	1 (2023)
CWTS National	2 (2020)
CWUR National	2 (2020-21)
QS National	2 (2024)
THE National	2 (2024)
USNWR National	2 (2023)

Ghent University
Universiteit Gent
	Seal of Ghent University
	Latin: Universitas Gandavensis
Former names	State University of Ghent
Motto	Sapere Aude (Latin)
Motto in English	Dare to Think/Durf Denken
Type	Public
Established	1817; 208 years ago
Rector	Rik Van de Walle
Administrative staff	9,000
Students	+50,000
Location	Ghent, Belgium
Campus	University town
Colours	UGent blue & white;
Affiliations	CESAER; EUA; The Guild; SGroup; ENLIGHT; 3I University Network; 3C Partnership
Website	www.ugent.be

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

Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting of 50,000 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. In addition to satellite campuses elsewhere in Flanders and a Global Campus in Songdo, South Korea, Ghent University maintains many inter-university partnerships and programs both inside and outside of Europe.

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.

History

Foundation in the 19th century

Ghent was one of the largest and most important cities of Europe in the medieval period.

The university in Ghent was opened on 9 October 1817, with JC van Rotterdam as the first rector. The foundation of universities in Ghent, Liege, and Leuven that year – by the Dutch King William I – was part of a larger policy to stimulate academic lag across the southern provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (which would later become Belgium).^{[citation needed]} The original four faculties comprised 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 the wake of the Belgian Revolution, of 1830, the number of students declined, having peaked at 414. Although the faculties of humanities and science were dissolved from the university, they were restored five years later, in 1835. At this time, French also became the language of instruction, taking the place of Latin.

Ghent University played a role in the foundation of modern organic chemistry. Friedrich August Kekulé 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.^{[citation needed]}

In 1882, Sidonie Verhelst became the first female student at Ghent University, in science and pharmacology.^[3]

Developments in the 20th century

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.^{[citation needed]}

During World War I, Ghent University was initially closed due to hostilities and subsequently due to the refusal of the academic staff and the students to resume classes while Belgium was occupied. Moritz von Bissing, the German Governor-General of occupied Belgium sought to make the territory easier to govern by exploiting the pre-war linguistic division. The Flamenpolitik ("Policy regarding the Flemish people") was launched in 1916. The occupying German administration set up the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium in Ghent under the name Vlaamsche Hoogeschool (Flemish Institute of Higher Learning). Pejoratively referred to as the Von Bissing University, the Vlaamsche Hoogeschool was founded in 1916 but was disestablished after the war and the University of Ghent resumed its activities with French as the sole medium of instruction. 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.^[4]

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

In the postwar period, Ghent University became a much larger institution, following the 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.

In the 1960s, there were several student demonstrations at Ghent University, notably around the Blandijn site, which houses the Faculty of Arts & Philosophy.^[5] The most severe of demonstrations took place in 1969 in the wake of May 1968.

Since the end of the Cold War

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 faculty of Politics and Social Sciences is the most recent addition, in 1992.

Ghent University had a program founded by Andre Vlerick in 1953, then called Centre for Productivity Studies and Research. The program later evolved into a separate school called Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Management. Later in 1999 together with KU Leuven, Ghent University established Vlerick Business School merging the two MBA programs of the universities, naming the newborn institute Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School. In 2006, the school rebranded itself as Vlerick Business School. KU Leuven and Ghent University are still the parent institutions of the business school where many of the school's professors teach also in Leuven or Ghent. Nevertheless, UGent still offer MBA programs even after the merger.^[6]^{[circular reference]}

Academic profile

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

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 that opened in 2017.

Reputation & rankings

Ghent University consistently ranks among the top 100 universities in the world, alongside the Catholic University of Leuven. In 2017, it was ranked, globally, 69th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (or Shanghai ranking)^[26] and 125th by QS World University Rankings.^[27] For 2021, Ghent University has been ranked, worldwide, 85th by U.S. News & World Report^[28] and 96th by Times Higher Education.^[29] The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration has also been awarded with an international Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation.

International relations

The university maintains many partnerships within Belgium, across Europe, and throughout the world.

Inside Belgium, 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, the Enlight (previously the U4) Network, and the 3i University 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).^[30]

Beyond Europe, Ghent University conducts exchange programs on all six continents.^[31] Frameworks include its campus in South Korea and its 3C Partnership.

Associated contributions and innovations

Ghent University has been instrumental in the development of COinS and Unipept.^{[citation needed]}

People

Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, statesman
Henri Pirenne, historian
George de Hevesy, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
Maurice Maeterlinck, Nobel Prize winner in Literature
Corneel 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
Hélène Mallebrancke (1902-1940) Civil engineer and Belgian Resistance member in Second World War

Notable alumni

Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883), physicist, mathematician
Abdoel Rivai (1871-1937), physician, journalist, the first native of the Dutch East Indies to obtain doctoral degree
Leo Apostel (1925–1995), philosopher
Leo Baekeland (1863–1944), chemist, inventor of Bakelite
Wim Blockmans (born 1945), historian
Thierry Bogaert, founder of DevGen
Luc Bossyns, civil engineer
Marc Bossuyt (born 1944), judge, professor
Dries Buytaert (born 1978), computer scientist, founder of the Drupal CMS
Robert Cailliau (born 1947), co-inventor of the World Wide Web
Luc Coene (1947–2017), economy, governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB)
Gerard Cooreman, former prime minister of Belgium
Marc Coucke (born 1965), co-founder of Omega Pharma
Franz Cumont (1868–1947), historian
Jean Daskalidès [nl] (1922–1992), gynecologist, best known as chocolate maker of the brands Leonidas and Daskalidès.^[32]
Pieter de Decker, former prime minister of Belgium
Bert De Graeve (born 1955), law, businessman
Michel de Kemmeter, author and researcher in human sustainable development
Arnoud De Meyer (presently) director of Judge Business School of the University of Cambridge
Martin De Prycker (born 1955), engineer
Bertha De Vriese (1877–1958), first woman to enroll and graduate as a physician
Wim De Waele, economy and computer science, director of the IBBT
Catherine de Zegher (born 1955), international curator, art critic, and art historian
Rudy Dekeyser, molecular biologist, assistant director of the VIB
Bart Deplancke (born 1975), professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Paul de Smet de Naeyer, former prime minister of Belgium
Martin Dobelle (1906–1986), veteran orthopedic surgeon
Yaakov Dori (1899–1973), first chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, president of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Paul Fredericq (1850–1920), historian
Walter Fiers (1931–2019), molecular biologist
Leopold Flam (1912–1995), historian, philosopher
Dirk Frimout (born 1941), physicist, astronaut
Derrick Gosselin (born 1956), engineer, economist, business manager
Joseph Guislain (1797–1860), physiologist and psychiatrist
Jacques-Joseph Haus (1796–1881), jurist
Lucienne Herman-Michielsens (1926–1995), law, politician
Philippe Herreweghe (born 1947), doctor, psychiatrist, orchestra conductor
Corneille Heymans (1892–1968), physiologist (Nobel Prize winner)
Jan Hoet, (1936–2014), art historian, museum director, founding director of the SMAK
Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz (1829–1896), chemist
Jaap Kruithof (1929–2009), philosopher
Tom Lanoye (born 1958), philologist, writer
François Laurent (1810–1887), jurist
Théo Lefèvre, former prime minister of Belgium
Marguerite Legot (1913–1977), jurist, first Belgian woman to serve as a government minister
Yves Leterme (born 1960), former prime minister of Belgium
Emma Leclercq (1851–1933), cell biologist
Herman Liebaers (1919–2010), writer, former Marschal of the Royal Household.
Suzanne Lilar (born Suzanne Verbist) (1901–1992), philosopher, jurist, essayist, novelist
Julius Mac Leod (1857–1919), botanist
Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949), jurist, writer (Nobel Prize winner)
Hélène Mallebrancke (1902–1940), first female Belgian civil engineer to graduate from the University of Ghent, Resistance member in Second World War
Paul Mansion (1844–1919), mathematician
Rudi Mariën, pharmacy, chairman of Innogenetics
Gerard Mortier (1943–2014), artistic director
Roland Peelman, conductor and musical director
Jean-Pierre Nuel (1847–1920), physiologist
Peter Piot (born 1949), doctor, assistant secretary-general of the United Nations
Henri Pirenne (1862–1935), historian
Karel Poma (1920–2014), chemist and politician
Ockert Potgieter (1965-2021), missionary and film director
Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874), statistician
Godfried-Willem Raes (born 1952), composer, performer and instrument maker
Jacques Rogge (1942–2021), doctor, president of the International Olympic Committee
Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns (1835–1902), jurist, diplomat and cofounder of the Institut de droit international
George Sarton (1884-1956), chemist and historian of science
Jozef Schell (1935–2003), molecular biologist
Ferdinand Augustijn Snellaert (1809–1872), physician and writer
Imre Takács, environmental engineer and process engineer
Manuel Tito de Morais (1910-1999), electronic engineer and Portuguese politician
Luc Van den Bossche (born 1947), law, politician
Guido van Gheluwe (1926–2014), jurist and founder of the Orde van den Prince
Herman Vanderpoorten (1922–1984), politician
Hugo Van Heuverswyn (born 1948) chemist, biotech pioneer and businessman
Jean van Houtte, former prime minister of Belgium
Ann Van Gysel, zoology
Dirk Van de Put, businessman, incoming CEO of Mondelez International
Karel van de Woestijne (1878–1929), writer
Henry van de Velde (1863–1957), architect
Alexander Van Dijck, pioneer in rare diseases
Prudens van Duyse (1804–1859), writer
Paul van Geert (born 1950), psychologist
Marc Van Montagu (born 1933), biotech pioneer
Désiré van Monckhoven (1934–1882), physicist
Jules Van Praet (1806–1887), statesman
Willy van Ryckeghem (born 1935), economist
Piet Vanthemsche (born 1955), veterinary surgeon
Daniel Varoujan (1884–1915), Armenian poet
Guy Verhofstadt (born 1953), former prime minister of Belgium, liberal European politician
Dirk Verhofstadt (born 1955), publisher
Etienne Vermeersch (1934–2019), philosopher
Katrien Vermeire (born 1979), artist
Frank J. M. Verstraete, veterinary dentist and academic
Swen Vincke (born 1972), video game director and founder of Larian Studios
André Vlerick (1919–1990), economy
Emile Waxweiler (1867–1916), engineer and sociologist
Marc Zabeau (born 1949), zoology
Gerald Misinzo (born 1975), molecular biology, Tanzanian veterinary virologist and professor