Establishment of a university in Brussels , founder of the Free University of Brussels The Free University of Brussels was founded as the Free University of Belgium (
Université libre de Belgique) on 20 November 1834 in the aftermath of
Belgium's independence in 1830. Belgium had possessed three state universities at
Leuven,
Ghent, and
Liège under Dutch rule. Still, teaching had been extensively disrupted by the revolution and continued hostilities with the Dutch. As early as 1831, Belgian
freemasons of the ''''
lodge had considered founding a new
private university. News of the imminent creation of the
Catholic University of Mechelen revived the initiative among those with
anti-clerical ideas, especially freemasons,
liberals, and other
freethinkers.
Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen and
Auguste Baron led the fundraising for the new institution from April 1834. It was officially founded on 20 November 1834 in the former
Palace of Charles of Lorraine in
Brussels with the help of the liberal mayor
Nicolas-Jean Rouppe. 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. The motivating principle behind the new institution was "free inquiry" () which denoted freethinking ideas inherited from the
European Enlightenment. This hostility to political and religious authority led to hostility from the Catholic Church and
Catholic Party politicians, increasingly associated with the Mechelen university's successor, the
Catholic University of Leuven founded in 1835. Under the system of
pillarisation, the Free University became one of the principle institutions in the Liberal "pillar". It was renamed the '''' ("Free University of Brussels") in 1842. 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." In 1858, the Catholic Church established the
Saint-Louis Institute in the city, which subsequently expanded into a university in its own right.
Growth and internal tensions , 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. 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. The team was enforced with a few non-students. 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
- Vrije Hogeschool te Brussel.
German occupation and move 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. However, the university ceased its
collaboration when it came to accepting Flemish professors of the
New Order. 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.
Splitting of the university (VUB) moved to a new campus as a result of the split. 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 Free University's Faculty of Law courses began being taught in French and Dutch as early as 1935. Nevertheless, it was not until 1963 that all faculties offered their courses in both languages. 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. On 1 October 1969, the French and Dutch entities of the Free University separated into two distinct sister universities. This splitting was officialised in the act of 28 May 1970, of the
Belgian Parliament, by which the French-speaking (ULB) and the Dutch-speaking
Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) officially became two separate legal, administrative and scientific entities. ==Notable people==