KU Leuven and Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles celebrate 30 years of collaboration

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Since 1992, KU Leuven and the Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles have been offering a bilingual bachelor’s degree in law in Brussels. On 6 March, both universities will celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of this course in the presence of His Majesty King Philippe. This is also an opportunity to put the spotlight on the other joint and successful Bachelor of Business Engineering programme.

Students who study law at KU Leuven in Brussels can opt for a bachelor’s program in Dutch, or for a bilingual track in Dutch and French in collaboration with the Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles. In the bilingual track, they follow eight legal basic courses in French at the nearby French-speaking Université Saint-Louis (USL) in the first and second phase. They are currently following the third phase in Leuven or elsewhere, but both universities also want to integrate this third phase into the joint multilingual trajectory soon.

‘Thanks to this unique trajectory, students can respond to the bilingualism of jurisprudence in Belgium. A lawyer must understand judgments of French-speaking judges, read the legal doctrine of French-speaking legal scholars and be able to negotiate in French. And it is not impossible that they will later have to plead as lawyers in French,’ says Professor Annick De Boeck, campus dean of the Faculty of Law in Brussels. ‘Moreover, students fully enjoy our anchoring in international Brussels, a unique learning and living environment.’

The latter also applies to students of the English-taught Bachelor of Business Engineering programme , which KU Leuven and USL have been offering together since academic year 2020-2021. The program has a strong international focus and is taught entirely in English. Students attend classes at both KU Leuven and USL, in the middle of the bustling decision-making center of the Belgian and European political and business world. They can also participate in exchange programs with numerous partners within and outside Europe.

This academic year, 91 students at KU Leuven are enrolled for the bilingual program at the Faculty of Law, and 335 at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration for the joint Business Engineering programme.

A new home in Pacheco
Students take a number of courses from these Bachelor’s programs on the USL campus, right next to the Pacheco building. In the plinth of that building, KU Leuven is currently building a new Living Campus, a contemporary education and research environment with auditoriums, classrooms, a learning center with library, practice rooms and meeting rooms. After all, more and more Brussels, Flemish and international students are finding their way to KU Leuven in Brussels. With the Pacheco site, the university can provide an answer to the demand for additional teaching and office space.

‘USL and KU Leuven will soon literally become neighbours, and students of the multilingual programs will also be able to reap the benefits of this,’ says Luc Sels, Rector of KU Leuven. ‘The Pacheco site offers a lot of possibilities in terms of education and research space, and literally brings us close to USL, one of our important partners in Brussels. That proximity will only benefit our cooperation. The site is also located on the edge of the Brussels pentagon, with many options for students in terms of housing and with the bustling center within walking distance. With the imminent merger of USL and UCLouvain, this also means that the two sister universities in Leuven will once again be united in the heart of Brussels.’