A free spirit since 1834

Discover the ULB, from its missions to its origins, its commitment and its roots in Brussels and Wallonia.

MULTICULTURAL AND INTERNATIONAL

As a multicultural university with one third of students and researchers from abroad, international relations is a daily reality for the Université libre de Bruxelles, just like the city of Brussels itself, one of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities.
Its outward-looking position with regard to Europe and the world has resulted in a number of agreements, collaborations and special partnerships being set up with some of the world’s top universities.

GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH

Four scientific Nobel Prizes, one Fields Medal, three Wolf Prizes are further evidence of the University’s longstanding tradition of excellence. The Université libre de Bruxelles is an active member of the Research Area: ULB has received HR Excellence in Research award from the EU (EURAXESS) and also EU funding to hire post-doctoral researchers (COFUND program), for example. Over the past few years, it has obtained 36 Grants (16 starting, 10 consolidator and 10 advanced)  from the European Research Area (ERC) to finance research in Medicine, Mathematics, Political Science, Economics, Physics, etc. In addition, the University’s Institute for European Studies is recognized as a “Jean Monnet European research centre” for its work on European integration.

HIGH TEACHING STANDARDS

The Université libre de Bruxelles has 12 faculties that cover all the disciplines, closely combining academic input and research. It offers almost 40 undergraduate programmes and 250 graduate programmes (among them 23 Masters fully taught in English) . It also partners 20 Doctoral schools, with almost 1,600 PhD in progress.
One of the University’s main aims is to give its students a solid foundation in critical thinking as well as a taste for research, while at the same time catering to the needs of new publics.

A FOCUS ON LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY

As a French-speaking university, most of the courses at the Université libre de Bruxelles are delivered in French. However, a growing number of Master degrees are partly or entirely delivered in English.
The University offers a wide range of French courses, prior to and during the academic year, to help its international students improve their language skills.

A COMMITTED UNIVERSITY

Ever since its creation, our University has been cultivating the flame of freedom. It has constantly demonstrated its independence and its commitment to the great struggles for democracy, individual liberties and human rights.The Université libre de Bruxelles has developed a large spectrum of student support initiatives: e.g., financial and psychological support, guidance, French classes, etc.
Based on the principle of free enquiry that postulates independent reasoning and the rejection of all dogma, the University has retained its original ideals as a free institution that is firmly engaged in the defence of democratic and human values.