Université libre de Bruxelles

Seal of the ULB
Latin: Universitas Bruxellensis[a]
Motto	Scientia vincere tenebras (Latin)
Motto in English	Conquering darkness through science
Type	Independent (partly state-funded)
Established	28 May 1970; 55 years ago (1970-05-28)
President	Pierre Gurdjian
Rector	Annemie Schaus
Administrative staff	4,400
Students	37,489 (2023–24)[1]
Location	Brussels , Belgium
Campus	Solbosch/Solbos, La Plaine/Het Plein, Erasme/Erasmus, Gosselies
Follows	Free University of Brussels
Affiliations	EUA AUF ENTREE IMCC [fr] T.I.M.E. UNICA Atomium Culture
Website	www.ulb.be

The Université libre de Bruxelles (French, pronounced [ynivɛʁsite libʁ də bʁysɛl]; lit. Free University of Brussels; abbreviated ULB) is a French- and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has three campuses: the Solbosch/Solbos campus (in the City of Brussels and Ixelles), the La Plaine/Het Plein campus (in Ixelles) and the Erasme/Erasmus campus (in Anderlecht).

The Université libre de Bruxelles was formed in 1969 by the splitting of the Free University of Brussels,^[b] which was founded in 1834 by the lawyer and liberal politician Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. The founder aimed to establish a university independent from state and church, where academic freedom would prevail.^[2] This is still reflected in the university's motto Scientia vincere tenebras, or "Conquering darkness through science".

In 2012, the ULB had about 24,200 students, a diverse student population as well as a diverse staff.^[3]

Brussels has two universities whose names mean Free University of Brussels in English: the French-speaking Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Neither uses the English translation, since it is ambiguous.

The history of the Université libre de Bruxelles is closely linked with that of Belgium itself. When the Belgian State was formed in 1830 by nine breakaway provinces from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, three state universities existed in the cities of Ghent, Leuven and Liège, but none in the new capital, Brussels. Since the government was reluctant to fund another state university, a group of leading intellectuals in the fields of arts, science, and education — amongst whom the study prefect of the Royal Athenaeum of Brussels, Auguste Baron, as well as the astronomer and mathematician Adolphe Quetelet — planned to create a private university, which was permitted under the Belgian Constitution.^[4][2]

In 1834, the Belgian episcopate decided to establish a Catholic university in Mechelen with the aim of regaining the influence of the Catholic Church on the academic scene in Belgium, and the government had the intent to close the university at Leuven and donate the buildings to the Catholic institution.^[5] The country's liberals strongly opposed to this decision, and furthered their ideas for a university in Brussels as a counterbalance to the Catholic institution. At the same time, Auguste Baron had just become a member of the freemasonic lodge Les Amis Philantropes. Baron was able to convince Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, the president of the lodge, to support the idea for a new university. On 24 June 1834, Verhaegen presented his plan to establish a free university.^[2]

After sufficient funding was collected among advocates, the Université libre de Belgique ("Free University of Belgium") was inaugurated on 20 November 1834, in the Gothic Room of Brussels Town Hall. The date of its establishment is still commemorated annually, by students of its successor institutions, as a holiday called Saint Verhaegen (often shortened to St V) for Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen.^[6] In 1836, the university was renamed the Université libre de Bruxelles ("Free University of Brussels").^[4]

After its establishment, the Free University faced difficult times, since it received no subsidies or grants from the government; yearly fundraising events and tuition fees provided the only financial means. Verhaegen, who became a professor and later head of the new university, gave it a mission statement which he summarised in a speech to King Leopold I: "the principle of free inquiry and academic freedom uninfluenced by any political or religious authority."^[2] In 1858, the Catholic Church established the Saint-Louis Institute in the city, which subsequently expanded into a university in its own right.^[7]

The Free University grew significantly over the following decades. In 1842, it moved to the Granvelle Palace, which it occupied until 1928. It expanded the number of subjects taught and, in 1880, became one of the first institutions in Belgium to allow female students to study in some faculties. In 1893, it received large grants from Ernest and Alfred Solvay as well as Raoul Warocqué to open new faculties in Brussels. A disagreement over an invitation to the anarchist geographer Élisée Reclus to speak at the university in 1893 from the rector Hector Denis led to some of the liberal and socialist faculty splitting away from the Free University to form the New University of Brussels (Université nouvelle de Bruxelles) in 1894. However, the institution failed to displace the Free University and closed definitively in 1919.^[8]

In 1900, the Free University's football team won the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics. After Racing Club de Bruxelles declined to participate, a student selection with players from the university was sent by the Federation.^[9][10] The team was enforced with a few non-students.^[11] The Institute of Sociology was founded in 1902, then in 1904 the Solvay School of Commerce, which would later become the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (part of ULB) and VUB Solvay Business School (part of VUB). In 1911, the university obtained its legal personality under the name Université libre de Bruxelles - Vrije Hogeschool te Brussel.^[12]

The German occupation during World War I led to the suspension of classes for four years in 1914–1918. In the aftermath of the war, the Free University moved its principal activities to the Solbosch/Solbos in the southern municipality of Ixelles, and a purpose-built university campus was created, funded by the Belgian American Educational Foundation.

During the second occupation of World War II, the university protested the two anti-Jewish ordinances of 28 October 1940, but nevertheless collaborated for the expulsion of Jewish professors and students.^[13] However, the university ceased its collaboration when it came to accepting Flemish professors of the New Order.^[14] Thus, the university was again closed by the German authorities on 25 November 1941, and some of its students were involved in the Belgian Resistance, establishing the sabotage-orientated network Groupe G.^[15]

Courses at the Free University were taught exclusively in French until the early 20th century. After Belgian independence, French was widely accepted as the language of the bourgeoisie and upper classes and was the only medium in law and academia. As the Flemish Movement gained prominence among the Dutch-speaking majority in Flanders over the late 19th century, the lack of provision for Dutch speakers in higher education became a major source of political contention. Ghent University became the first institution in 1930 to teach exclusively in Dutch.

Some courses at the Free University's Faculty of Law began being taught in both French and Dutch as early as 1935. Nevertheless, it was not until 1963 that all faculties offered their courses in both languages.^[16] Tensions between French- and Dutch-speaking students in the country came to a head in 1968 when the Catholic University of Leuven split along linguistic lines, becoming the first of several national institutions to do so.^[17]

On 1 October 1969, the French and Dutch entities of the Free University separated into two distinct sister universities. This splitting became official with the act of 28 May 1970, of the Belgian Parliament, by which the French-speaking Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) officially became two separate legal, administrative and scientific entities.^[18][19]

The ULB comprises three main campuses: the Solbosch/Solbos campus, on the territories of the City of Brussels and Ixelles municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region, the La Plaine/Het Plein campus in Ixelles, and the Erasme/Erasmus campus in Anderlecht, beside the Erasmus Hospital.

The main and largest campus of the university is the Solbosch, which hosts the administration and general services of the university. It also includes most of the faculties of the humanities, the École polytechnique, the large library of social sciences, and among the museums of the ULB, the Museum of Zoology and Anthropology,^[20] the Allende exhibition room and the Michel de Ghelderode Museum-Library.

The La Plaine campus hosts the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Pharmacy. There are also the Experimentariums of physics and chemistry, the Museum of Medicinal Plants and Pharmacy^[21] and student housing. This site is served by Delta station.

The Erasmus campus houses the Erasmus Hospital and the Pôle Santé, the Faculty of Medicine, the School of Public Health and the Faculty of Motor Sciences. There is also the School of Nursing (with the Haute école libre de Bruxelles – Ilya Prigogine), the Museum of Medicine^[22] and the Museum of Human Anatomy and Embryology.^[23] This site is served by Erasme/Erasmus metro station.

The university also has buildings and activities in the Brussels municipality of Auderghem, and outside of Brussels, in Charleroi on the Aéropole Science Park and Nivelles.

• 
  The main building on the Solbosch/Solbos campus, located in the City of Brussels close to Ixelles
• 
  Entrance of the Paul-Émile Janson Auditorium on the Solbosch campus
• 
  The Museum of Medicine on the Erasme/Erasmus campus in Anderlecht

• Institute for European Studies^[24]
• Interfacultary School of Bio-Engineering
• School of Public Health
• High Institute of Physical Education and Kinesiotherapy
• Institute of Work Sciences
• Institute of Statistics and Operational Research
• Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management
• Faculty of Sciences

University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Université de Montréal, Waseda University, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI, BeiHang University, Universidade de São Paulo, Université de Lausanne, Université de Genève, University Ouaga I Pr. Joseph Ki-Zerbo, University of Lubumbashi^[25]

At the heart of the Free University of Brussels there are at least 2000 PhD students and around 3600 researchers and lecturers who work around different scientific fields and produce cutting-edge research.

The projects of these scientists span thematics that concern exact, applied and human sciences and researchers at the heart of the ULB have been awarded numerous international awards and recognitions.

The research carried out at the ULB is financed by different bodies such as the European Research Council, the Walloon Region, the Brussels Capital Region, the National Fund for Scientific Research, or one of the foundations that are dedicated to research at the ULB; the ULB Foundation or the Erasme Funds.

Since the early 2000s, the MAPP project has started studying political party membership evolution through the time.

For pre-1970 notable faculty and alumni, see Free University of Brussels:

• Ilya Prigogine (1917–2003): Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977
• François Englert (b. 1932): Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013
• Denis Mukwege (b. 1955): Nobel Peace Prize in 2018

• 
  Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1977)
• 
  François Englert, Nobel Prize in Physics (2013)
• 
  Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize (2018)

Inspired by US protests on university campuses,^[32] on 7 May 2024, around a hundred students occupied a university building,^[33][34] which they named in honour of Walid Daqqa, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,^[35][36][34] while demanding the release of the leader of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Faction, Georges Abdallah, from a French prison.^[37] The same year, Jewish students reported antisemitic and anti-Zionist insults, vandalism of posters against antisemitism, as well as cases of students being violently attacked.^[36][38][39] A passer-by who allegedly declared herself a Zionist was also attacked.^[40] The Simon Wiesenthal Center views this as a trend towards antisemitism in Belgian academic circles.^[41] Critics have accused the protesters of extremism, however, the Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis did not find any "structural or hierarchical link" with extremist groups.^[42]. Notably, French journalist Nora Bussigny claimed in her book "Les nouveaux antisémites"(The new anti-Semites), that she "discovered a more structured and persistent radicalization than at other universities".^[43] In November, a declaration targeting the "Zionists" of Brussels and Europe,^[42] led the Jonathas Institute, a centre for studies and action against antisemitism in Belgium, to file a complaint against the student group, for inciting hatred and violence.^[44]

In August 2025, the Faculty of Law decided to honour the French politician Rima Hassan as a symbolic gesture.^[45][46][47] The Belgian League Against Antisemitism criticised the decision, citing Hassan's controversial comments on the "legitimacy" of the antisemitic massacre,^[48] as did 50 French intellectuals, given that Hassan is facing charges for incitement to terrorism in France.^[45][49] The Minister-President of the French Community, Élisabeth Degryse, also expressed her opposition.^[50] Hassan and ULB students celebrated the decision by chanting in favor of armed conflict: "Long live the armed struggle of the Palestinian people".^[51] In December, the university awarded two ULB researchers, among others, with a Science Dissemination Prize.^[52] The first, François Dubuisson, has portrayed the 7 October attacks as an attempt by Hamas to "break the lines", for which he was criticised by members of the Belgian political class.^[53] The latter, Déborah Brosteaux, has also faced criticism for her pro-Palestinian views.^[54]

In front of the European Parliament, Céline Imart of the French political party The Republicans has requested the European Commission to suspend aid for the university: "Ask the Commission to immediately suspend the funds allocated to this university, until the safety of Jewish students is guaranteed and the values of the Union are once again respected".^[55] Members of the Belgian political party Reformist Movement have also voiced their concerns.^[56] Facing renewed criticism in September,^[57] the rector, Annemie Schaus, denied allegations of antisemitism against the university.^[58] In contrast, university professors have described antisemitism as "rapidly taking hold on ULB campuses since 7 October".^[37] Jewish students have voiced their fear of being targeted, describing the hostility on campuses as "significant".^[59][60] At the Working Group Against Antisemitism of the European Parliament, the Jonathas Institute warned of "an environment in which antisemitism goes largely unchallenged".^[61]

Florida has placed the university on its blacklist for its "boycott" of Israel.^[62][63] Instead of ties with Israeli universities, the university has established ties with the Palestinian Birzeit University, despite its support for Hamas in student elections,^[47] while maintaining its relations with other universities of autocratic regimes.^[64] The Belgian Jewish organization Forum der Joodse Organisaties criticized what it sees as political moves against the academic and scientific networks, concerning Jews and Israelis.^[65] Other critics have argued that it constitue a discrimination and a violation of academic principles.^[66] According to the university, the "suspension" of partnerships and agreements is related to the war in Gaza, as such, the university put forward the allegation of not "complying" to a remark of the International Court of Justice addressed to Israeli universities.^[67] At the same time, pro-Palestinian student groups have protested against ties with "Zionist elements",^[68] and some of them against the "Zionist entity".^[69] According to the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, the anti-Zionism by members of the university in their support of Palestinian nationalism or boycott, violated the IHRA definition of antisemitism adopted notably by the Senate.^[64]

• List of split up universities
• Science and technology in Brussels
• Top Industrial Managers for Europe
• Atomium Culture
• Institut Jules Bordet
• Royal Statistical Society of Belgium
• University Foundation

• Despy, A., 150 ans de L'ULB. Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, 1984
• Noel, F., 1894. Université libre de Bruxelles en crise, Brussels, 1994

Media related to Université libre de Bruxelles at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• The ULB, a university born of an idea
• ULB, at a glance

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