Universite libre de Bruxelles

The Université libre de Bruxelles (French for Free University of Brussels), abbreviated ULB, is a French-speaking private research university in Brussels, Belgium.

ULB is one of two institutions which trace their origins to the Free University of Brussels, founded in 1834 by Belgian lawyer Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. This split along linguistic lines in 1969 into the French-speaking ULB and Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), both founded in 1970. A major research center open to Europe and the world, it has about 24,200 students, 33% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.

When the Belgian State was formed in 1830 by nine breakaway provinces from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it had three state universities, in Ghent, Liège and Leuven, but no university in the new capital, Brussels. Since the government was reluctant to fund another state university, a group of Freemasons and intellectuals led by Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen and Auguste Baron planned to create a private university, which was permitted under the Belgian Constitution. After the Catholic Church sponsored the foundation of the Catholic University of Mechlin in 1834, the Université Libre de Belgique (Free University of Belgium) opened on 20 November 1834. In 1836, it changed its name to Université Libre de Bruxelles.