The Université libre de Bruxelles at a glance

ULB at a glance (PDF)

Founded in 1834

A non denominational university, acknowledged and subsidised by the Belgian authorities

President of the Board: jean-Louis Vanherweghem

Rector: Philippe Vincke

>A university with a comprehensive range of disciplines, covering all levels

Faculties

• Arts and Humanities

• Law

• Social Sciences and Politics - Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

• Psychological and Educational Sciences

• Science

• Medicine

• Applied Sciences / Engineering School

• Architecture (as per Jan. 2010)

Schools and Institutes

• School of Public Health

• Institute for Motor Sciences

• Institute of Pharmacy

• Institute for European Studies

Teaching Hospital (the Erasmus Hospital)

• 864 beds

• 2,883 FTE

• 30,000 inpatients yearly

• 410,000 outpatients

• budget = 323 M. EUR

• and a hospital network in Wallonia and Brussels

Campuses

• 3 campuses located in Brussels: Solbosch, Plaine and Érasme

• 2 campuses located in Wallonia: Charleroi and Gosselies

Libraries

• 1,5 million books

• 4,000 subscriptions to periodicals

• 11,000 electronic journals subscriptions accessible on-line

• 3,000 desks

• Launch of Di-fusion the "Dépôt Institutionnel Numérique" (Online Research Database) in 2009-10

Memberships

• the Brussels Alliance for Research and Higher Education, together with the Université de Mons

• the Brussels-Wallonia European University Pole gathering, besides our University, 5 Higher Education Institutions

Teaching

• Training offer

  • 1st cycle: 40 Bachelors (180 ECTS)

  • 2nd cycle: 70 Masters developed in 175 specialisations

  • 60 Advanced Masters organised under the care of the Brussels Alliance for Research and Higher Education

  • 3rd cycle: 20 PhD

  • Comenius Medal (UNESCO 2004) - Tutoring programme

• Students

  • 21,000

  • 29% foreign students (19,5% from Europe, 9,5% from outside Europe)

  • 1,700 enrolled in the 3rd cycle - about 240 PhDs awarded each year

  • ULB attracts 29% of the university students from the French-speaking community of Belgium, 42% of the university students coming from European countries, and 41% students coming from non-European countries

• Graduates

  • 4,720 in 2008-2009

  • Approx. 100,000 since 1971

Staff

• 3,462 Full Time Equivalents = around 4,850 people (Erasmus Hospital not included)

• Academic staff 755 FTE = 1,400 people

• Scientific staff 1,458 FTE = 2,150 people (among which 500 researchers hired on contracts, 400 funded doctorate students)

• Administrative and Technical staff 1,249 FTE = 1,300 people

Budget (2008)

• 268 M. EUR (excluding the teaching hospital)

• 58% government grants

• 34% contractual and funded research

• 5% tuition fees

• 3% other sources

Research Funding

• Total budget devoted to Research: 132 M. EUR

  • 70 M. EUR (59%): research contracts

  • 31 M. EUR (24%): state subsidies

  • 27 M. EUR (16%): research allocations from FRS - FNRS, FRIA

  • 4 M. EUR (3%): own ressources

• Links with business and industry

  • 24 spin-offs

  • 225 staff

  • 27,5 M. EUR turnover

Prizes and distinctions

• 3 Nobel Prizes out of 5 awarded in Belgium:
  Jules Bordet (1919, Medicine)
  Albert Claude (1974, Medicine)
  Ilya Prigogine (1977, Chemistry)

• 1 Fields Medal :
  Pierre Deligne (1978, Mathematics)

• 3 Wolf Prizes
  Jacques Tits (2003, Mathematics), François Englert et Robert Brout (2004, Physics), Pierre Deligne (2008, Mathematics)

• 22 Francqui Prizes (29% of all prizes awarded)
  Recent winners : Gilbert Vassart (1993, Medicine), Etienne Pays (1996, Medicine), Mathias Dewatripont (1998, Economics), Marc Parmentier (1999, Medicine), Marc Henneaux (2000, Physics), IEE - Eric Remacle and Paul Magnette (2000, interdisciplinary), Pierre Gaspard (2006, Physics)

• 14 Five-yearly FNRS Prizes (44% of all prizes awarded)
  Recent winners : Paul Bertelson (1991-1996, Experimental Psychology), André Preumont (1996-2000, Applied Sciences), Etienne Pays (1996-2000, Parasitology), Jacques Brotchi (1996-2000, Neurosurgery), Michel Goldman (1996-2000,Immunology), Marco Dorigo (2001-2005, Applied sciences)

• 2 Marie Curie Award
  Marco Dorigo (2003, Applied Sciences), Nicolas Cerf (2006, Applied Sciences)

• European Research Council (ERC)
  Estelle Cantillon (2008, Economy), Cédric Blanpain (2008, Biology), Fréderic Bourgeois (2009, Mathematics)

• Human frontier Science Programme (HFSP)
  Long term fellowships grants: Cédric Blanpain (2003 and 2006 Biology), Guillaume Smits (2004, Biology), Audrey Dufour (2006, Biomedecine), Benoît Vanhollebeke (2009, Parasitology)
  Programme Grants: Christine Dambly-Chaudière (1990 Genetics), Alain Ghysen(1990 et 1994, Neurobiology), José Junca de Morais (1990, Neurosciences), Régine Kolinsky (2009, Neurosciences), Luc Vanhamme (2004, Parasitology)
  

The International Dimension

• Staff internationalisation : total foreign staff = 20%

• 11% academic staff

• 23% scientific staff

• 9% administrative and technical staff

• Projects and agreements

• 360 ERASMUS partnerships

• 250 institutional agreements

• Approx. 120 international joint research projects

• Partnerships

• Founding Member of the UNICA network made up of 42 major universities from the capital cities of Europe

• Founding member of FIUP (International Forum of public universities)with the University of Montreal

• Special partnerships with the universities of Montréal (UdeM), British Columbia (UBC, Vancouver), California (Berkeley), Fudan University (Shanghai), Collège de France, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris VI), University of Cambridge, , University of Oxford, University of Waseda

Contacts

• Teaching – dptE@ulb.ac.be

• Research – Jeanine.Springael@ulb.ac.be

• External Relations – dre@admin.ulb.ac.be