Université libre de Bruxelles

Establishment of a university in Brussels

The history of the Université libre de Bruxelles is closely linked with that of Belgium itself. When the Belgian state was formed in 1830 by nine breakaway provinces from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, three state universities existed in the cities of Ghent, Leuven and Liège, but none in the new capital, Brussels. Since the government was reluctant to fund another state university, a group of leading intellectuals in the fields of arts, science, and education—amongst whom the study prefect of the Royal Athenaeum of Brussels, Auguste Baron, as well as the astronomer and mathematician Adolphe Quetelet—planned to create a private university, which was permitted under the Belgian Constitution.

In 1834, the Belgian episcopate decided to establish a Catholic university in Mechelen with the aim of regaining the influence of the Catholic Church on the academic scene in Belgium, and the government had the intent to close the university at Leuven and donate the buildings to the Catholic institution. The country's liberals strongly opposed to this decision, and furthered their ideas for a university in Brussels as a counterbalance to the Catholic institution. At the same time, Auguste Baron had just become a member of the freemasonic lodge Les Amis Philantropes. Baron was able to convince Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, the president of the lodge, to support the idea for a new university. On 24 June 1834, Verhaegen presented his plan to establish a free university.

After sufficient funding was collected among advocates, the Université libre de Belgique ("Free University of Belgium") was inaugurated on 20 November 1834, in the Gothic Room of Brussels Town Hall. 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. In 1836, the university was renamed the Université libre de Bruxelles ("Free University of Brussels").

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 Université libre de Bruxelles - 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.

At the heart of the Free University of Brussels there are at least 2000 PhD students and around 3600 researchers and lecturers who work around different scientific fields and produce cutting-edge research. The projects of these scientists span thematics that concern exact, applied and human sciences and researchers at the heart of the ULB have been awarded numerous international awards and recognitions.

The research carried out at the ULB is financed by different bodies such as the European Research Council, the Walloon Region, the Brussels-Capital Region, the National Fund for Scientific Research, or one of the foundations that are dedicated to research at the ULB; the ULB Foundation or the Erasme Funds. Since the early 2000s, the MAPP project has started studying political party membership evolution through time.

Controversy

Inspired by US protests on university campuses, on 7 May 2024, around a hundred students occupied a university building, which they named in honour of Walid Daqqa, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, while demanding the release of the leader of the Lebanese Revolutionary Armed Faction, Georges Abdallah, from a French prison. The same year, Jewish students reported antisemitic and anti-Zionist insults, vandalism of posters against antisemitism, as well as cases of students being violently attacked. A passer-by who allegedly declared herself a Zionist was also attacked. The Simon Wiesenthal Center views this as a trend towards antisemitism in Belgian academic circles. Critics have accused the protesters of extremism, however, the Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis did not find any "structural or hierarchical link" with extremist groups.. Notably, French journalist Nora Bussigny wrote in her book Les nouveaux antisémites (The new antisemites) that she "discovered a more structured and persistent radicalisation than at other universities". In November, a declaration targeting the "Zionists" of Brussels and Europe, led the Jonathas Institute, a centre for studies and action against antisemitism in Belgium, to file a complaint against the student group, for inciting hatred and violence.

In August 2025, the Faculty of Law decided to honour the French politician Rima Hassan as a symbolic gesture. The Belgian League Against Antisemitism criticised the decision, citing Hassan's controversial comments on the "legitimacy" of the antisemitic massacre, as did 50 French intellectuals, given that Hassan is facing charges for incitement to terrorism in France. The Minister-President of the French Community, Élisabeth Degryse, also expressed her opposition. Hassan and ULB students celebrated the decision by chanting in favour of armed conflict: "Long live the armed struggle of the Palestinian people". In December, the university awarded two ULB researchers, among others, with a Science Dissemination Prize. The first, François Dubuisson, has portrayed the 7 October attacks as an attempt by Hamas to "break the lines", for which he was criticised by members of the Belgian political class. The latter, Déborah Brosteaux, has also faced criticism for her pro-Palestinian views.

In front of the European Parliament, Céline Imart of the French political party The Republicans has requested the European Commission to suspend aid for the university: "Ask the Commission to immediately suspend the funds allocated to this university, until the safety of Jewish students is guaranteed and the values of the Union are once again respected". Members of the Belgian political party Reformist Movement have also voiced their concerns. Facing renewed criticism in September, the rector, Annemie Schaus, denied allegations of antisemitism against the university. In contrast, university professors have described antisemitism as "rapidly taking hold on ULB campuses since 7 October". Jewish students have voiced their fear of being targeted, describing the hostility on campuses as "significant". At the Working Group Against Antisemitism of the European Parliament, the Jonathas Institute warned of "an environment in which antisemitism goes largely unchallenged".

Florida has placed the university on its blacklist for its "boycott" of Israel. Instead of ties with Israeli universities, the university has established ties with the Palestinian Birzeit University, despite its support for Hamas in student elections, while maintaining its relations with other universities of autocratic regimes. According to the university, the "suspension" of partnerships and agreements is related to the war in Gaza, as such, the university put forward the allegation of not "complying" to a remark of the International Court of Justice, addressed to Israeli universities. The Belgian Jewish organisation Forum der Joodse Organisaties criticised what it sees as political moves against the academic and scientific networks, concerning Jews and Israelis. Other critics have argued that it constitutes a discrimination and a violation of academic principles. Notably, ULB researcher Eric Muraille claimed that the stance put the ULB and other universities as "political actors, a shift that may reshape how both the public and policymakers perceive academic expertise, while also exposing institutions to political targeting" while pointing at a practice that "hinders the rational resolution of conflicts and fosters self-censorship, intellectual conformity, and the displacement of disagreement into militant and media-driven power struggles". At the same time, pro-Palestinian student groups have protested against ties with "Zionist elements", and some of them against the "Zionist entity". According to the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, the anti-Zionism by members of the university in their support of Palestinian nationalism or boycott, violated the IHRA definition of antisemitism adopted notably by the Senate.

In May 2026, the divide on the controversies and the accusations of antisemitism are seen as deep-seated and enduring tensions. Critics have argued that the principle of freedom of thought is not respected by radical actors.