When the
Catholic University of Belgium moved from
Mechelen to
Leuven in 1835, the unused buildings were used to host the newly founded ''École de Commerce et d'Industrie'' (School of Trade and Industry), which was inaugurated in 1838. The school moved to Brussels in 1858 and became the
Institut Saint-Louis (a diocesan secondary school), where the Philosophy Department was founded, which eventually grew to become a university. This was the result of the
Catholic clergy's and
Pope Pius IX's wish to have a Catholic institution in Brussels teaching
philosophy. The department prepared candidates for the higher
liberal arts certification that would qualify them to enroll for a university law degree. In 1891, with the recognition of non-state universities, the institution became recognized as an autonomous ('free') university, a status which was confirmed in 1929. Over time, Faculties developed and expanded, and a Faculty of Law was added to the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. In 1925, the university founded (
Hautes études commerciales), Belgium's first independent business school, together with its
Dutch-speaking counterpart,
EHSAL (
St. Aloysius College of Economics). Also, the university established the world-renowned School of Philosophical and Religious Sciences, founded by
Cardinal Mercier. In 1948, the Philosophy and Arts section separated from the
Institut Saint-Louis, and continued independently as a non-profit university under the name "Faculté universitaire Saint-Louis". It was not until 1960 that the administrative split was fully effective and the buildings separated. In 1965, the Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences (ESPO) was established and the university's name was later changed to the plural
Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis. In 1969, Saint-Louis starts giving lectures to
Dutch-speaking students, in addition to lessons at EHSAL/HEC, but the Dutch-speaking department would leave the
Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis in 1973, to create the independent
Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Aloysius (UFSAL). This later became the
Catholic University of Brussels (K.U.Brussel). Both UFSAL and EHSAL merged to create the
Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), together with other
Flemish institutions like
Vlekho, which originated from the Saint-Louis-linked
Institut libre Marie Haps. In 2013, HUB was reorganized and today comprises the
KU Leuven campus Brussel, and the vocational college
Odisee. Both are still located in the same street as Saint-Louis University, the
rue du Marais or
Broekstraat. French-speaking HEC Saint-Louis, which was renamed to ISC Saint-Louis (
Institut supérieur de Commerce), co-founded the "ICHEC - ISC Saint-Louis - ISFSC" Consortium of Schools in 1995, and
de facto integrated the
Institut catholique des Hautes Études commerciales (ICHEC) in 2004. Saint-Louis University, Brussels still organises degrees in economics, management and business engineering, on the same site as the ISC Saint-Louis, within its Faculty of Economics, Politics, Social and Communication Sciences (ESPO). Between 2004 and 2013, Saint-Louis University and the three other Belgian French-speaking Catholic universities; namely the
University of Namur, the
Université catholique de Louvain and the
Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons (now a part of UCLouvain) made up the
Académie universitaire Louvain network. This notably meant the integration of Saint-Louis' economics and management programmes into the
Louvain School of Management. After the reform of
Belgian French-speaking universities in 2013, Saint-Louis became a founding member of the
Pôle académique de Bruxelles, along with the
Université libre de Bruxelles and, by decree, was renamed from
Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis to
Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles. In May 2017, Saint-Louis University, Brussels and the
University of Louvain (primarily based in
Louvain-la-Neuve and which has 2 campuses in Brussels:
Woluwe and
Saint-Gilles) officially announced that the two universities were merging in a single institution named UCLouvain, with Saint-Louis becoming 'UCLouvain Saint-Louis - Bruxelles'. Both institutions have started using the name UCLouvain in September 2018. Saint-Louis' main campus is located on the northern edge of the historic inner city, opposite the
Botanical Garden of Brussels across the
small ring road. In 2015, the department and programmes of translation and interpreting of the
Institut libre Marie Haps were transferred to the newly established
Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpreting at Saint-Louis University, Brussels. This fifth Faculty is located in buildings along the ''rue d'Arlon'', near the
European Parliament.
Chronology • 1835: the Catholic University of Belgium, installed in
Mechelen, moves to
Leuven (Louvain) to form the
Catholic University of Louvain. The ''École de Commerce et d'Industrie'' in the premises left by the university (the official opening took place in 1838). • 1858: transfer of the ''École de Commerce et d'Industrie'' to Brussels, becoming the Institut Saint-Louis, and of HEC Saint-Louis, Belgium's first business school, as well as
EHSAL (Economische Hogeschool Sint-Aloysius), the Dutch-speaking equivalent. • 1929: a new law declares the institution to be an independent university. creation of courses with off-shift schedules. • 1984: HEC Saint-Louis becomes the
Institut supérieur de commerce, or ISC Saint-Louis. • 1991: creation of bilingual French-Dutch programmes in collaboration with Saint-Louis' Dutch-speaking equivalent now called
Katholieke Universiteit Brussel. • 1993: creation of trilingual French-Dutch-English and bilingual French-English programmes in law and social sciences. • 1995: authorization by
decree to organize
doctoral theses and
postgraduate studies. • 1996: the ISC Saint-Louis co-founds the new
Haute École Groupe "ICHEC - ISC Saint-Louis - ISFSC", a
vocational university college. • 2004: the ISC Saint-Louis is absorbed into the
Institut catholique des hautes études commerciales. • 2004: adhesion to the
European Union's
Erasmus Charter. • 2004: foundation of the
Académie Louvain. • 2007: creation of the Institute of European Studies (IEE). • 2011: inauguration of the 119 Marais building, which now houses the Institute of European Studies and its specialized library. • 2013: the FUSL become Saint-Louis University, Brussels (
Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles), one of the
six universities of the
Wallonia-Brussels Federation. • 2015: creation of the
Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, incorporating the bachelor's degrees in translation-interpretation from the
Institut libre Marie-Haps (
Haute École Vinci) and thus sharing the rue d'Arlon (
European district) and Tilleuls (
Chaussée de Wavre) campuses with it. • May 2017: the board of directors of the
University of Louvain and the General Assembly of the Saint-Louis University, Brussels decide, with 90% of the votes each, to merge and found the UCLouvain. • May 2018: inauguration of the Ommegang building by the
Brussels Minister Céline Frémault and the Rectors of the Universities of Saint-Louis and Louvain, doubling the surface area of Saint-Louis.
Architecture In 2004, a fire destroyed offices and a large part of the historic library building was flooded following the intervention of the fire brigade. A new library was built and inaugurated in 2005, while some elements of the old library remain (including part of the imposing wooden staircase). The university's main library moved to the third and fourth floors of the new Ommegang building in 2018. In 2015, the university indeed acquired an office building belonging to
Belfius bank, the Ommegang, next to the University's building located at 109 rue du Marais, in order to relieve the institution's infrastructure, whose number of students tripled in fifteen years. New
lecture theatres were built, including the institution's largest auditorium, a new library, a new multi-purpose room for 1300 people, and a residence with about 100 student apartments. The new facilities are accessible since the 2017 academic year, increasing the surface area of the main Saint-Louis campus from 25,000 m² to 47,000 m². ==Location==