The University of Liège (), or ULiège, is a major

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

of the

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

founded in 1817 and based in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Its official language is French.

History

The university was founded in 1817 by

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

, then King of the

United Kingdom of the Netherlands The United Kingdom of the Netherlands is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed from 1815 to 1839. The United Netherlands was created in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars through the fusion of territories t ...

, and by his Minister of Education,

Anton Reinhard Falck Anton Reinhard Falck (19 March 1777 in Utrecht16 March 1843 in Brussels) was a Dutch statesman. He studied at the University of Leiden, and entered the Dutch diplomat service, being appointed to the legation at Madrid, Spain. Under King Louis ...

. The foundation of the university was the result of a long intellectual tradition which dates back to the origins of the

Prince-Bishopric of Liège The Prince-Bishopric of Liège or Principality of Liège was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that was situated for the most part in present-day Belgium. It was an Imperial Estate, so the bishop of Liège, as ...

. Beginning in the eleventh century, the influence of the

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...

attracted students and prominent scientists and philosophers, such as

Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...

, to study in its libraries. The reputation of its medieval schools gave the city the reputation as a new Athens. A 17 March 1808 decree by

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

concerning the organization of an imperial university indicated Liège as the site of a new academy to be composed of a Faculty of Arts and a Faculty of Science—the first university charter for Liège. Ultimately, Liège owes its university to

, who remembered the city's prestigious legacy of teaching and culture when he decided to establish a new university on Walloon soil. Nearly 200 years later, settled to some extent in the district of Liège, the University of Liège belongs to the French community of Belgium. The university is located at the edge of the river

Meuse The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of . History From 1301, the upper ...

, in the center of ''the Island'', the Latin Quarter of Liège. In 2009, the Agronomical University of Gembloux (FUSAGx), based in Gembloux, in the

Province of Namur Namur (; ; ) is a province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège and Luxembourg in Belgium, and the French department of Ardennes. Its ...

, integrated ULiège. It has adopted a new name for academics as well as research, namely

Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech (GxABT), located in Gembloux, Belgium, is one of the eleven faculties of the University of Liège. Founded in 1860 and previously known as the Faculté universitaire des sciences agronomiques de Gembloux (FUSAGx, French f ...

Chronology

* 1817: foundation of the University of Liege by

. * 1838: opening of the Liège mining school. * 1881: first female student. * 1882: beginning of the construction of the Trasenster Institutes in Liège: ** 1882: Institute of Astrophysics and the Cointe Observatory; ** 1883: Institute of Pharmacy, the Botanical Institute and the Montefiore Institute of Electrical Engineering; ** 1885: the Auguste Swaen Institute of Anatomy; ** 1888: Institutes of Physiology, of Zoology and of Chemistry. * 1955: foundation of the

University of Lubumbashi The University of Lubumbashi (), also known by the acronym UNILU, is one of the largest universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located in Lubumbashi in Haut-Katanga Province, previously Katanga Province. The campus is located ...

(called Elisabethville at the time) by the State University of Liège. * 1967: beginning of the transfer process from the city center to the Sart Tilman campus. * 1969: the Cureghem University of Veterinary Medicine in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

is administratively attached to ULiège. * 1989: the State University of Liège becomes a university of the

. * 1991: The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is transferred from Brussels to the Sart Tilman campus. * 2004: The ''Fondation universitaire luxembourgeoise'' integrates the University of Liège, creating the Faculty of Science's Department of Environmental Science and Management. * 2005: HEC Liège (Management School) and the Department of Economics and Business Administration of the University of Liège merge to create the HEC Liège – School of Management of the University of Liège business school. * 2009: The University of Agricultural Sciences of Gembloux (FUSAGx) in Gembloux is integrated into the University of Liège, becoming an independent faculty under the name Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech. * 2010: Through the merger of the ''Institut supérieur d'architecture Saint-Luc de Liège'' (ISA Saint-Luc Liège) and the ''Institut supérieur d'architecture Lambert Lombard'' (ISAI LL), a new faculty is created within ULiège: the Faculty of Architecture. * 2015: the Institute of Human and Social Sciences (ISHS) becomes an independent faculty: the Faculty of Social Sciences (FaSS) *2021: The Department of Media, Culture and Communication of the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters establishes its school of journalism, with various auditoriums, classrooms and studios in the renovated Grand Poste de Liège; named Media Campus, these facilities are located in front of the historical faculty buildings. The student radio station 48FM is also relocating there.

Organisation

The rector of ULiège is Professor Anne-Sophie Nyssen, who succeeded Professor Pierre Wolper in 2022, becoming the first woman to hold this position. Anne Girin has been the university's Administrator since September 1, 2020. She replaced Laurent Despy and became the first woman to hold this position. The University of Liège counts: * 24,522 students ** 4,600 foreign students * 4,300 employees ** 2,800 faculty members (both teaching and research) ** 1,300 administrative and technical support staff ULiège comprises 11 faculties: *Faculty of Philosophy and Letters * Faculty of Law, Political Science and Criminology **The Jean Constant Graduate School of Criminology *Faculty of Social Science * Faculty of Science *Faculty of Applied Science * Faculty of Medicine * Faculty of Veterinary Medicine *

– Faculty of Agronomical Science and Bioengineering * Faculty of Psychology, Logopedics and Educational Sciences * Faculty of Architecture * HEC Liège Management School

Campus

Since the 1970s, ULiège's main campus has been the hill, a vast planned community campus located about ten kilometers south from the center of Liège. However, the university has kept its headquarters and many administrative facilities in the city centre, as well as the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, the Institutes of Zoology, Anatomy, the HEC Liège Management School and the newly incorporated Faculty of Architecture. The

campus and faculty are located in the city of Gembloux,

Namur Province Namur (; ; ) is a Provinces of Belgium, province of Wallonia, one of the three regions of Belgium. It borders (clockwise from the West) on the Walloon provinces of Hainaut Province, Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, Liège Province, Liège and Luxembourg ...

, and Faculty of Science Department of Environmental Science and Management is located in

Arlon Arlon (; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Luxembourg (Belgium), province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium. With a population of just over 28,000, it ...

, Luxembourg Province. The university also owns a scientific research station in the Belgian

High Fens The High Fens (; ; ), which were declared a Nature reserve, nature reserve in 1957, are an upland area, a Plateau, plateau region in Liège Province, in the east of Belgium and adjoining parts of northwestern Germany, between the Ardennes and the ...

since 1924, the STARESO

oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...

station in Calvi,

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, a meteorological station and the

Sphinx Observatory The Sphinx Observatory is an astronomical observatory located above the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland. It is named after the ''Sphinx'', a rocky summit on which it is located. At above mean sea level, it is one of the highest observatories in the ...

on the

Jungfraujoch The Jungfraujoch (German language, German: lit. "maiden saddle") is a Saddle (landform), saddle connecting two major Four-thousander, 4000ers of the Bernese Alps: the Jungfrau and the Mönch. It lies at an elevation of above sea level and is dir ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, since 1950 and research stations and observatories in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

( SPECULOOS and TRAPPIST-South),

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

( TRAPPIST-North).

Notable alumni

''For full list, see

University of Liège alumni A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

.'' * Joaquín Arderíus, novelist * Philippe Bodson, engineer *

Albert Claude Albert Claude (; 24 August 1899 – 22 May 1983) was a Belgian- American cell biologist and medical doctor who shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1974 with Christian de Duve and George Emil Palade. His elementary education sta ...

Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single ...

in 1974 *

Marie Delcourt Marie Delcourt (Ixelles, 18 November 1891 – Liège, 11 February 1979) was a Belgian classical philologist. She studied at the University of Liège (ULg), and obtained a PhD in classical philology in 1919. Under the German occupation of Belgium d ...

, first female professor at the ULiège * Marcel Detienne, philosophy and literature (PhD) * Paul Demaret, rector of the

College of Europe The College of Europe (; ; ) is a post-graduate institute of European studies with three campuses in Bruges, Belgium; Warsaw, Poland; and Tirana, Albania. The College of Europe in Bruges was founded in 1949 as a result of the 1948 Congress of ...

* Jacques H. Drèze, economist * Paul Fredericq (1850–1920), historian *

Michel A. J. Georges Michel A. J. Georges (1959) is a Belgian biologist and a professor at the University of Liège. Birth and education Michel A. J. Georges was born in 1959 in Schoten, Belgium. He received his Doctor in Veterinary Medicine from the University of ...

, veterinary, 2008

Francqui Prize The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize named after Émile Francqui. Normally annually since 1933, the Francqui Foundation awards it in recognition of the achievements of a scholar or scientist, who at the star ...

* Jean Gol (1942–1995), lawyer, politician * Alexis Jacquemin (1938–2004), economy, 1983

on Human Sciences * David Keilin, entomologist * Garance Genicot, Economist, Professor at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Auguste Kerckhoffs Auguste Kerckhoffs (19 January 1835 – 9 August 1903) was a Dutch linguist and cryptographer in the late 19th century. Biography Kerckhoffs was born in Nuth, the Netherlands, as Jean Guillaume Auguste Victor François Hubert Kerckhoffs, ...

, Dutch linguist and cryptographer * Jean-Marie Klinkenberg, linguist and semiotician * Jan Kowalewski, Polish

cryptologist This is a list of cryptographers. Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties called adversaries. Pre twentieth century * Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: wrote a (now lost) book ...

* Wincenty Kowalski, Polish military commander * Marc Lacroix (1963- ), biochemist * Joseph Lebeau, statesman * Jean-Christophe Marine, biologist * Benoit Michel, engineer and author * Marcel Nicolet, Belgian physicist and meteorologist *

Jean-Baptiste Nothomb Jean-Baptiste, Baron Nothomb (; 3 July 1805 – 16 September 1881) was a Belgian statesman and diplomat, who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1841 to 1845. Life Revolution Born at Messancy in Luxembourg on 3 July 1805, he was educ ...

, statesman and diplomat *

Stanisław Olszewski Stanisław Olszewski (1852–1898) was a Polish engineer and inventor. He is best known as the co-creator of the technology of arc welding (along with Nikolay Benardos). Biography He studied in Belgium at the University of Liège. Upon hi ...

, Polish

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

* Paul Pastur, lawyer and politician (1866–1938) *

Joseph Plateau Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (; 14 October 1801 – 15 September 1883) was a Belgian physicist and mathematician. He was one of the first people to demonstrate the illusion of a moving image. To do this, he used counterrotating disks with r ...

(1801–1883), physicist * Georges Poulet, literary critic *

Guy Quaden Guy, Baron Quaden (born 5 August 1945 in Liège, Belgium) is a Belgian economist. He was Governor of the National Bank of Belgium 2003–11, and as such a member of the Governing and General Councils of the European Central Bank. Since 2003 he has ...

, economist, Governor of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; , NBB; , BNB; , BNB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Belgium within the Eurosystem. It was the Belgian central bank from 1850 until 1998, established by law of and issuin ...

* Jean Rey (1902–1983), second

President of the European Commission The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...

* Max Rooses, writer * Léon Rosenfeld, physicist * Philippe-Charles Schmerling, pioneer in

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

Theodor Schwann Theodor Schwann (; 7 December 181011 January 1882) was a German physician and physiology, physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the d ...

, developer of

cell theory In biology, cell theory is a scientific theory first formulated in the mid-nineteenth century, that living organisms are made up of cells, that they are the basic structural/organizational unit of all organisms, and that all cells come from pr ...

and discoverer of

Schwann cells Schwann cells or neurolemmocytes (named after German physiologist Theodor Schwann) are the principal glia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS). Glial cells function to support neurons and in the PNS, also include Satellite glial cell, satellite ...

* Polidor Swings, 1948 laureate of the

* Haroun Tazieff, French vulcanologist and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

* André Henri Constant van Hasselt, poet * Shady Attia, engineer

Notable faculty

* Zénon-M. Bacq (1903–1983), radiobiologist * Florent-Joseph Bureau (1906–1999), mathematician *

Eugène Charles Catalan Eugène Charles Catalan (; 30 May 1814 – 14 February 1894) was a French and Belgian mathematician who worked on continued fractions, descriptive geometry, number theory and combinatorics. His notable contributions included discovering a periodi ...

, mathematician *

André Danthine André Danthine (14 May 1932 – 18 January 2024) was a Belgian computer scientist. He was a professor of computer science at the University of Liège from 1967 to 1997; and later a professor emeritus there. He specialised in computer networks ...

, computer scientist * Marcel Florkin (1900–1979), medicine, biochemistry *

Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck Laurent-Guillaume de Koninck (3 May 1809 – 16 July 1887) was a Belgian palaeontologist and chemist, born at Leuven. He studied medicine in the university of his native town, and in 1831 he became assistant in the chemical schools. He pu ...

(1809–1887), palaeontologist and chemist * Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye, economist *

(1891–1979), classical philologist * Philippe Devaux (1902–1979), philosopher *

Paul Fourmarier Paul Frédéric Joseph Fourmarier (1877—1970) was a Belgian geologist and specialist in tectonics and stratigraphy, after whom the Fourmarierite mineral is named. Fourmarier was born in La Hulpe, Province of Brabant, Belgium and studied at t ...

(1877–1970), geologist * Paul Gochet (1932), philosopher * Groupe μ, Group of semioticians * Godefroid Kurth (1847–1916), historian *

Paul Ledoux Paul Ledoux (8 August 1914 – 6 October 1988) was a Belgian astrophysicist best known for his work on stellar stability and variability. With Theodore Walraven, he co-authored a seminal work on stellar oscillations. In 1964 Ledoux was aw ...

(1914–1988), astrophysicist * Jean-Pierre Nuel (1847–1920), physiologist *

Pol Swings Pol F. Swings (24 September 1906 – 28 October 1983) was a Belgian astrophysicist who was known for his studies of the composition and structure of stars and comets. He used spectroscopy to identify the elements in astronomical bodies, and, i ...

(1906–1983), astrophysicist *

Edouard Van Beneden Édouard Joseph Louis Marie Van Beneden (5 March 1846 in Leuven – 28 April 1910 in Liège) was a Belgian embryologist, cytologist and marine biologist. He was professor of zoology at the University of Liège. He contributed to cytogenetics ...

(1846–1910), biologist *

(1810–1882), biologist

Honorary doctorate

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

(September 1999) *

Dominique Strauss-Kahn Dominique Gaston André Strauss-Kahn (; born 25 April 1949), also known as DSK, is a French economist and politician who served as the tenth managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and was a member of the French Socialist P ...

(May 2011) *

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...

(2011) *

Bill Viola William John Viola Jr. ( , ; January 25, 1951 – July 12, 2024) was an American video artist whose artistic expression depended upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human ...

(2010)

Notes and references

External links

*
ULiège's WebTV

International Conference on System Simulation in Buildings held in ULiège
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Liege Public universities Educational institutions established in 1817 Buildings and structures in Liège Engineering universities and colleges in Belgium 1817 establishments in Europe 1817 establishments in the Netherlands William I of the Netherlands Universities and colleges formed by merger in Belgium