We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
Brussels Inspiration Bureau
Social Links
Instagram 69K Followers
Facebook 70K Followers
X / Twitter 10K Followers
  • Our Story
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Contact
69K
70K
10K
We Love Brussels
We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
  • Community news
  • Building the platform
  • Community of city admirers
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Get in Touch
Become our contributor. Join the team!

Sign up for our newsletter

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

  • Events diary
  • Urban Life

Joint Academic Opening marking 50 years of VUB and 185 years of ULB

  • Editorial Team
  • September 23, 2019
  • 2 minute read

Friday 20 September – VUB and ULB celebrated their 50th and 185th anniversaries respectively with a joint Academic Opening in the presence of His Majesty King Filip and more than 7,000 guests. This is the first shared kick-off in the history of both institutions. The event took place at Brussels’ Cinquantenaire Park.

Rectors Caroline Pauwels (VUB) and Yvon Englert (ULB) have called for more cooperation between the communities at the session devoted to ‘free thinking without frontiers’. The official ceremony is followed by a festival with live music and food trucks.

VUB and ULB are opening their academic year together for the first time in half a century. They share a history that goes back 185 years, and this unique event has important symbolic value: it is a call for more intense cooperation and dialogue between all the communities in our country.

The festival is a high point in the collaboration between the universities of Brussels. The two institutions are working together on a variety of projects, such as the Learning & Innovation Center, AI Experience Center, the BRUFACE joint engineering course, the Interuniversity Institute for High Energies IIHE, the Interuniversity Institute of Bioinformatics IB², the football association’s knowledge centre, multilingual education for the city,…

The rectors have pledged to continue playing an active role in Brussels. The city is a ‘living lab’ for students, researchers, inhabitants of Brussels and the many Flemish and Walloon people who travel here every day for work.

Award ceremony by King Filip

At this opening of the academic year, His Majesty King Filip presented three prizes to students who have made a special contribution to cooperation and dialogue between communities. The first prize winners are law students Ellen Van Begin (VUB) and Louis Cornet (ULB), who participated in the language tandem VUB-ULB, in which students from different parts of the country improve their language skills together. Davide Militello (VUB) and Baptiste Conversano (ULB), representatives of the student associations, won for the contribution of their student circles to Saint-Vé and student life in Brussels. Six students from the VUB-ULB Executive Master in Conservation and Restoration of the Architectural, Urban and Landscape Heritage, represented by Melek Surgun and Thierry Henrard, are honoured for discovering unique building plans of the Palace of Justice of Brussels.

A birthday cake parade – 235 cakes in total – with the logos of VUB and ULB marked the end of the official ceremony.

Festival in Cinquantenaire Park

At the end of the festive opening, VUB and ULB are organising a real festival for the 7,000 guests, with music performances by Straz, Blu Samu, l’Or du Commun, DJ Fox Adam and Kara, among others.

Source – VUB Press

Total
0
Shares
Like 0
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Like 0
Share 0
Editorial Team

WeLoveBrussels is a digital platform focusing on the city life, culture, creativity, events, amazing places, lifestyle, urban development trends and simple beauty around us.

You May Also Like
View Post
  • Events diary

An immersive ART LAB opens in the heart of Brussels

  • Editorial Team
  • May 19, 2025
View Post
  • Events diary

A new show from The Bridge Theatre: 855-FOR-TRUTH

  • Editorial Team
  • May 19, 2025
View Post
  • culture & creativity
  • Events diary

There is a new art fair in town: The Rooms

  • Editorial Team
  • May 12, 2025
Brussels Inspiration Bureau

Exploring the best of Brussels since 2014. Get our free monthly newsletter!

Discover more!
Our columnists & bloggers:
Aleksandra Rowicka
Addicted to cultural life of Brussels, fashion photography and dark…
Aris Setya
Indonesian living in Brussels. Passionate about photography. Love…
Boro Milovic
Boro is the founder and editor-in-chief of WeLoveBrussels. His interests…
Dorka Demeter
Dorka is a Hungarian expat living in Brussels for 10 years. Admirer of…
Karolina
Karolina is a blogger sharing stories on European cities, local…
Laurence-Anne Doetsch
Brussels-born and bred, a few years living in Toronto only convinced her…
Meredith @ellesbxl
Meredith Geldof is a Flemish girl who moved to Brussels and enjoys…
Priyanka Roy Banerjee
Blogger, writer and editor at Writersmelon. Blogs: One and a Half…
Salvatore Costantino
Salvatore is an archeologist who has crossed over into contemporary…
Tireless_Traveler
Nath is born and raised in Brussels but with a serious case of…
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Download our free guide!

Views & opinions expressed across this website are solely that of the authors and contributors themselves and may not reflect the position of WeLoveBrussels. The editorial or publisher of WeLoveBrussels cannot be held responsible for expressed opinions or unintended errors and oversights if any.

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

Instagram 69K Followers
Facebook 70K Followers
X / Twitter 10K Followers
WeLoveBrussels
  • Our story & more
  • Get in Touch
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal notice
Brussels Inspiration Bureau. Your guide to city life, culture, business, travel, Brussels events agenda & cultural diplomacy.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.