Ghent University (in Dutch, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated UGent) is one of the two large Flemish universities. It is located in the historic town of Ghent in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking (northern) part of Belgium. It has 26,000 students and 6,000 Staff members.

It is a relatively young university, founded 9 october 1817. The year before, king William I of the Netherlands had proclaimed the establishment of three universities in the Southern Netherlands. The language of teaching from 1817 till Belgium's autonomy and separation from the Netherlands (1830) was Latin; from 1830 till 1930 it was first French and then later a bilingual French/Dutch system. In 1930, Ghent University became the first Belgian university to teach in the Dutch language.

In contrast to the Catholic University of Leuven, Ghent University is an independent university (i.e. not connected to any kind of religion).

Eminent professors

• Paul Fredericq , historian
• Joseph Guislain , physiologist and psychiatrist
• Jean-Jacques Haus , jurist
• Corneille Heymans, physiologist
• François Laurent, jurist
• Julius Mac Leod , botanist
• Paul Mansion , mathematician
• Henri Pirenne, historian
• Joseph Plateau, physicist

See also

• List of universities in Belgium
• Catholic University of Leuven

External link

• Official website of Ghent University