History of Ghent UniversityGhent University has been encouraging critical and independent thinking since 1817. Over the past 200 years, Ghent University has counted many eminent scientists and even Nobel Prize winners. Some highlights:
Ghent University has been encouraging critical and independent thinking since 1817. Over the past 200 years, Ghent University has counted many eminent scientists and even Nobel Prize winners. Some highlights:
1817 Inauguration
Ghent university was founded by King William I in 1816 and inaugurated on 9 October 1817 at Ghent City Hall. The first professorial staff had 16 members, including 9 foreigners, mainly Northern Dutch and Germans. In 1817, a total of 190 students registered in the 4 faculties: Arts, Law, Medicine and Sciences.
1826 Inauguration Aula Academica
The city council of Ghent decides that the university needs a palace for ceremonies and protocol on the site of the former Jesuit Church: Aula Academica. On August 4, 1819, the first stone was laid on the site of a demolished Jesuit church, after a design by master builder Louis Roelandt. On 3 October 1827, the Aula is inaugurated officially.
The political separation from the Netherlands in 1830 had disastrous consequences for education in Ghent as two faculties were abolished: Sciences and Arts. Although the Higher Education Act of 1835 returned the two faculties to Ghent University and also added the Technical Schools, the recovery proceeded very slowly.
Thirty-five years would pass before the student population level of 1830 was once again attained. Nevertheless, during this period Ghent University won a great number of prizes in the university competitions.
1876 Modernization
The introduction of Dutch as the official language in 1930 coincided with a change in the University's language status. The language of instruction from its establishment by William I of Orange till the separation from the Netherlands was Latin, from 1830 till 1930 it was first French and then a bilingual system, and after 1930 it was Dutch.
A systematic and thorough modernization of higher education in Ghent took place after the Acts of 1876 and 1890 were passed, which granted universities the power to award academic degrees and enabled scientific development. Laboratory exercises and laboratory research work got their start in this period and research assistants were also appointed.
Over the years, the professorial staff has included a number of eminent figures: jurists Jean-Jacques Haus and François Laurent, physicist Joseph Plateau, mathematician Paul Mansion, physiologist and psychiatrist Joseph Guislain, historians Henri Pirenne and Paul Fredericq, Germanic scholars Joseph Vercoullie and Henri Logeman, and zoologist and botanist Julius Mac Leod, who was also the spiritual father of the Flemish-speaking Ghent University.
1882 First female student
Due to relaxed entry requirements for university studies, female students also gained access to higher education. The first woman came to study in Ghent in 1882. She chose to study Sciences.
1911 Nobel Prize for Maurice Maeterlinck
Poet, playwright, essayist, translator and Ghent University alumnus Maurice Maeterlinck received the Nobel Prize in Literature, among others, for the impact of his stage debut La Princesse Maleine.
1930 Dutch
Dutch became the official language of Ghent University in 1930, the year Belgium celebrated its first centennial. This made it the first institution in the country to offer its educational programmes in Dutch.
1938 Nobel Prize for Corneel Heymans
In 1938 Prof. Corneel Heymans of Ghent was the only Flemish person to receive the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in the field of respiratory regulation. The pulling down of the language barrier in 1930 constituted an important step towards the democratization and scientific development of recent decades.
1991 Decree
A university stands or falls on the basis of the scientific research it produces. In the past, the university's fame was in the hands of individual scholars who taught and carried on research. In the last decades, because of the explosion in the growth and range of scientific research, this was no longer feasible. Research increasingly became a matter of teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration.
As a consequence of the reform of the State, the regional communities enjoyed wide powers of decision. For instance, on education. The decree of 1991, which assigned great autonomy to the University, provided new challenges on education and research in an international perspective.
2003 Foundation of AUGent
In 2003 Ghent University joined forces with Hogeschool Gent, Arteveldehogeschool and Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen to form the Ghent University Association.
2013 Integration of university colleges
Some 40 academic programmes of the university colleges within the Ghent University Association are transferred into Ghent University. In one fell swoop, the university gains 6,800 students, 600 staff members, several campuses in Ghent and a Campus Kortrijk (Courtrai).
On 1 October, Professor Anne De Paepe becomes UGent's first female rector.
2014 Ghent University Global Campus in South Korea
Ghent University opens up its first campus in Songdo, South Korea. Its curriculum offers 3 bachelor’s study programmes in life sciences: Molecular Biotechnology, Environmental Technology, and Food Technology. They are taught by a permanent staff, supplemented by a ‘flying faculty’ made up of Ghent University lecturers that periodically fly over to teach four-week-long modules.
2017 Celebration 200 years Ghent University
In 2017, UGent celebrated its 200th anniversary. For the occasion, Ghent University renews its logo and corporate identity.
There was an extensive expo on its history at Ghent City Museum (STAM), the renewed Ghent University logo shone on a postage stamp and 2-euro coin, there was an official visit of 80 rectors, foundation ball, 200-km bike ride, international rowing regatta, ... As a finale, the university organised the city festival 'Everyone Ghent University' with more than 25,000 visitors!
