UCLouvain
Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) is a French-speaking public research university in Belgium, tracing its lineage to the Catholic University of Louvain founded by papal bull from Pope Martin V on December 9, 1425, making it one of the oldest universities in the Low Countries and continuously operating institutions of higher learning in Europe.[1][2]
In response to escalating linguistic tensions in Belgium during the 1960s, known as the Leuven Affair, the bilingual institution split in 1968 along Dutch-French lines: the Dutch-speaking Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) remained in the historic city of Leuven, while UCLouvain established its primary campus in the newly planned pedestrian city of Louvain-la-Neuve, inaugurated in 1972 to accommodate the relocation of French-speaking faculties and students.[3][4]
Enrolling around 30,000 students across 14 faculties grouped into sectors of human sciences, health sciences, and science and technology, UCLouvain emphasizes interdisciplinary research and maintains a Catholic ethos, though it has faced internal debates over doctrinal adherence, as evidenced by its 2024 public rebuke of Pope Francis's speech on gender roles shortly after his campus visit.[5][6] The university has produced influential scholars, including cosmologist Georges Lemaître, who formulated the theory of the expanding universe, and ranks among the top 200 globally in various academic assessments.[7][2]