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UCLouvain: the “most international” Belgian university

UCLouvain (47th position) is the leading Belgian university in the Times Higher Education ranking of the most international universities. UCLouvain’s partners in the Circle U.* alliance are also ranked highly. UCLouvain’s twofold objective: to make its students citizens of today’s and tomorrow’s worlds, and to develop collaborations with research teams throughout the world.

Times Higher Education, which analyses, compares and evaluates higher education institutions around the world, unveiled its ranking of the “most international universities” on 19 January. The first Belgian university on the list, UCLouvain, is also the only university in the country to make it into the top 50.

To establish its rankings, Times Higher Education considered a university’s proportion of staff and students from other countries and its international reputation.

“The UCLouvain community attaches great importance to the international dimension, both in education and research,” said UCLouvain Pro-Rector for Research Jean-Christophe Renauld. “We’re delighted that this is reflected in the excellent world ranking for our university and also for our partners in the Circle U. European university alliance.”

In addition to UCLouvain (47th), other Circle U. universities ranked remarkably well, with seven of the alliance’s nine institutions appearing in the top 100: the University of Vienna (10th), King’s College London (11th), the University of Oslo (50th), Aarhus University (53rd), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (73rd) and the Université de Paris (93rd).

“We want to offer our students an international experience to develop their skills as citizens of today’s and tomorrow’s worlds,” said UCLouvain Pro-Rector for International Affairs Dana Samson. “For our researchers, it’s also essential to develop collaborations with research teams around the world in order to extend the frontiers of knowledge and take up major societal challenges. Through the Circle U. alliance, for example, we seek to create an education and research space without barriers to international mobility and collaboration.”

Coincidentally, on 18 January, the European Commission presented its strategy for strengthening cooperation among the continent’s higher education institutions, focusing in particular on the concept of “European universities”, the development of a common European degree and the introduction of a European student card.
“The establishment of European universities such as Circle U. is a major process in the evolution of higher education, in order to give our students and researchers the skills and means to meet the challenges of the 21st century,” concluded Pro-Rector Renauld.

* Circle U. is a European alliance of nine universities: Aarhus University, the University of Belgrade, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, King’s College London, UCLouvain, the University of Oslo, Université de Paris, the University of Pisa, and the University of Vienna.

Published on January 20, 2022