Founded in 1425, KU Leuven has been a centre of learning for almost six centuries. Today, it is Belgium’s highest-ranked university as well as one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe.
As a leading European research university and co-founder of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), KU Leuven has a strong record of securing funding from the most competitive research funds and was named Europe’s most innovative university four years in a row by Reuters (2016-2019).
KU Leuven is home to a vibrant community of international students and staff members, spread out over 14 campuses in Belgium. About 20% of the university’s 60,000+ students are international, representing over 140 nationalities. It employs over 13.200 staff, not counting the University Hospitals. The Doctoral Schools provide internationally oriented PhD tracks for more than 6,300 doctoral students. KU Leuven works with a select number of top-level partner institutions worldwide and stimulates purposeful international mobility and intensive research cooperation. It continually strives to integrate the local and international student and research communities on all its campuses through a variety of programmes and activities.
With over 300 different Bachelor’s and Master’s programs, organised in 16 different faculties, KU Leuven truly is a comprehensive university with expertise ranging from Archaeology to Zoology. All of KU Leuven’s disciplines proudly belong to the top 100 of their field. Excellence in education and excellence in research go hand in hand. KU Leuven’s study programmes are research-based, which ensures that students acquire academic competences while also developing a critical and research-oriented attitude. Flexibility and state-of-the-art technology are integral to each study programme.
KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD) is the technology transfer office of KU Leuven. Established in 1972 as one of the first technology transfer offices in Europe, LRD has a long tradition of collaborating with industry, patenting, licensing and creating spin-off companies. LRD is dedicated to valorising research, building bridges between science and industry, and transferring knowledge and technologies to the marketplace.
The institution has five long-term transversal projects, with an impact on all policy domains: Truly International, Future-Oriented Education, Going Digital, lnterdisciplinarity and Sustainability. This plan comprises active participation in international networks and priority partnerships as major internationalisation priorities.