Ghent University
Ghent University (Dutch: Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium.
Located in Flanders, Ghent University is one of the largest Belgian universities, consisting of 50,000 students and 9,000 staff members. The university also supports the Ghent University Library (including the famous Boekentoren) and the Ghent University Hospital, which is one of the biggest hospitals in Belgium. In addition to satellite campuses elsewhere in Flanders and a Global Campus in Songdo, South Korea, Ghent University maintains many inter-university partnerships and programs both inside and outside of Europe.
Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the region was incorporated into the United Kingdom of the Netherlands after the fall of First French Empire. In that same year, he founded two other universities for the southern provinces as well, alongside Ghent University: University of Liège and State University of Leuven.
After the Belgian revolution of 1830, the newly formed Belgian state began to administer Ghent University. In 1930, UGent became the first Dutch-speaking university in Belgium. Previously, French (and, even earlier, Latin) had been the standard academic language in what was Université de Gand. In 1991, it was granted major autonomy and changed its name accordingly from State University of Ghent (Dutch: Rijksuniversiteit Gent, abbreviated as RUG) to its current designation.
University rankings
84 (2023)
118 (2020-21)
75 (2020)
=159 (2024)
98 (2019)
115 (2024)
=95 (2023)
1 (2023)
2 (2020)
2 (2020-21)
2 (2024)
2 (2024)
2 (2023)
Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, statesman
Henri Pirenne, historian
George de Hevesy, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
Maurice Maeterlinck, Nobel Prize winner in Literature
Corneel Heymans, Nobel Prize winner in Medicine
Marguerite Legot, first female government minister in Belgium
Yaakov Dori, president of the Technion, Haifa
Suzanne Lilar, feminist writer
Jozef Schell (right), molecular biologist
Marc van Montagu, molecular biologist
Robert Cailliau, co-inventor of the World Wide Web
Guy Verhofstadt, politician
Gustave Rolin-Jaequemyns, jurist and diplomat
Hélène Mallebrancke (1902-1940) Civil engineer and Belgian Resistance member in Second World War
