The Belgian University Foundation (French: ''Fondation Universitaire''; Dutch: ''Universitaire Stichting'') was founded in 1920. The goal of the Foundation, as was put forward by
Emile Francqui, is to promote scientific activity at
Belgian universities.
Goals
# To provide grants and study loans to students from less privileged families.
# To help university research centres and laboratories to attract young researchers.
# To stimulate contacts and collaboration between the different Belgian research institutions by supporting scientific publications.
# To organize a ''Club Universitaire'' as a meeting place for Belgian and foreign academics.
History
The money for the foundation came from the remaining funds from the
Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) and the
National Committee for Help and Food. The help to the
Belgian people during
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
had been organized by
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...
and
Emile Francqui
On 28 August 1919, Herbert Hoover proposed to Emile Francqui, President of the National Committee for Help and Food, and to
Léon Delacroix, Prime Minister of Belgium, to use the funds, roughly 150 million Belgian francs, to support university education. The Belgian government decided to give twenty million to each of the four universities, and to use 55 million francs to establish the University Foundation. The remaining funds were used to set up the
Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF). The first president of the Foundation was Emile Francqui.
Building
The building is located in Brussels (Rue d'Egmont 11) also houses a club, a hotel and a restaurant. There are other institutions located on the premises of the University Foundation like the
Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF), the
Olivaint Conference of Belgium, the
Coimbra Group
The Coimbra Group (CG) is an international association of 40 universities in Europe. It was established in 1985. It works for the benefit of its members by promoting "internationalization, academic collaboration, excellence in learning and rese ...
,
UNICA, the
Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI), and the
European Nuclear Education Network.
See also
*
Science and technology in Belgium
*
Francqui Foundation
*
Academia Belgica
*
Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences
*
National Fund for Scientific Research
The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) (Dutch: ''Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek'' (NFWO), French: ''Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique'' (FNRS)) was once a government institution in Belgium for supporting scienti ...
*
List of universities in Belgium
This is a list of universities in Belgium. In Belgium, which is a Federalism, federal state, the constitution attributes legislative power over higher education to the Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, Communities. The dutch lang ...
*
List of Belgian Nobel laureates
Other Belgian clubs
*
Cercle Royal du Parc
*
Cercle de Lorraine
*
De Warande
External links
*
Scientific organisations based in Belgium
Foundations based in Belgium
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