Tilburg University is a Catholic

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

specializing in the social and behavioral sciences,

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

, Netherlands. Tilburg has a student population of about 19,150 students. Tilburg University has 67 Bachelors & Master's programs. Tilburg University has a PhD population of about 1,000 PhDs and awards approximately 99 PhDs per year. In 2024, the university had over 97,000 alumni. The university has over 3,000 FTE staff members, of which 57% are academic staff.

History

Tilburg University was founded in 1927, as the Roomsch Katholieke Handelshoogeschool (Roman Catholic University of Commerce), in the southern, Catholic part of the Netherlands, visible in its second change of name in 1938: Katholieke Economische Hogeschool (Catholic Economic University). In 1963 the university was once again renamed, as Katholieke Hogeschool Tilburg (Catholic University Tilburg), followed by a name change to Katholieke Universiteit Brabant (Catholic University Brabant). Although in its present name Tilburg University, the word Catholic was dropped, the university is still regarded as a Catholic university.

1969 protests

On 28 April 1969, students barricaded the campus buildings, demanding educational and organizational changes. Months before students had unofficially renamed the university ''Karl Marx University'', painting this title across campus to accentuate the importance of

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

ideas in the then primarily economics-oriented curriculum. These protests led to a widespread change in higher education across the Netherlands that was made official by the 1971 bill of Educational Reform, granting more joint decision making to students of Dutch universities.

Rankings

Tilburg University is a specialised university and has a focus on Social Sciences and Economics. In 2020 three major university rankings ( QS World University Ranking, THE World University Rankings and US News Best Global Universities) listed Tilburg among the top 40 in the world and top 10 in Europe for Economics. In 2020, Tilburg University was ranked 17th worldwide and 4th in Europe in Economics & Business field, by the US News 2020 ranking.

Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The THES''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...

in 2019 ranked it 28th in Economics & Business and 28th in Law globally in the 2021 ranking. The Shanghai Ranking lists Tilburg as the 5th best university in Business Administration in the world, 12th in Finance and 27th in Management.

Education and research

Tilburg University has 73 Bachelors & Masters programs, of which 43 in English.

Schools

Tilburg University has five Schools: * Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM) * Tilburg Law School (TLS) * Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (TSB) * Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) * Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (TST) The Tilburg School of Economics and Management (founded in 1927) is the oldest and largest faculty of the university. The other four faculties—Law (1963), Social and Behavioral Sciences (1963), Philosophy and Theology (1967), Arts (1981)—were founded more recently. In addition to these faculties, Tilburg University has a number of research centers and

graduate school Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachel ...

s (see below). Student life takes place at several study and student (sports) associations.

Notable alumni and faculty members

* Wim de Bie – writer, satirist, comedian * Lans Bovenberg – economist * Wim van de Donk – politician *

Afshin Ellian Afshin Ellian (born 27 February 1966 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born Dutch professor of law, philosopher, poet, and critic of political Islam. He is an expert in international public law and philosophy of law. Biography In 1989, Ellian ...

– professor of law, philosopher, poet, critic of Islam *

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 ...

– chess Grandmaster, mathematician, former President of

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...

Jackie Groenen Jackie Noëlle Groenen (born 17 December 1994) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer and former judoka who plays as a midfielder for Première Ligue club Paris Saint-Germain F.C. (women), Paris Saint-Germain and the Netherland ...

- footballer *

Ernst Hirsch Ballin Ernst Maurits Henricus Hirsch Ballin (born 15 December 1950) is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist. After the election of 1989 Hirsch Ballin was appointed as Minister of Justice in the Cab ...

– former Dutch Minister of Justice *

Geert Hofstede Gerard Hendrik (Geert) Hofstede (2 October 1928 – 12 February 2020) was a Dutch social psychologist, IBM employee, and Professor Emeritus of Organizational Anthropology and International Management at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, ...

– social psychologist, anthropologist (see

Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural psychology, developed by Geert Hofstede. It shows the effects of a society's culture on the values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure ...

) *

Servais Knaven Henricus Theodorus Josephus (Servais) Knaven (born 6 March 1971) is a Dutch professional road bicycle racer, currently sporting and technical manager for AG Insurance–Soudal–Quick-Step. He was previously a directeur sportif for Team Sky/I ...

– cyclist * Ruud Lubbers – former Prime Minister of the Netherlands,

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, l ...

(2001–2005) * Paul Scheffer * Norbert Schmelzer – former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs * Diederik Stapel – founder of the Tilburg Institute for Behavioral Economics Research, later dismissed for fabricating data. * Max van der Stoel – politician, first High Commissioner of

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the p ...

* Cees Veerman – former Dutch Minister of Agriculture * Jan Vranken - Professor of law * Herman Wijffels – economist and politician * Willem Witteveen – legal scholar, politician, and author * Joseph A. McCahery – corporate lawyers, researcher and institutional adviser * Ralph Hamers – businessman, the chief executive officer (CEO) of ING Group since October 2013 * Jacques van den Broek - CEO of Randstad NV since March 2014

References

External links

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TIAS School for Business and SocietyTilburg University Datasets
{{coord, 51, 33, 46, N, 5, 2, 31, E, type:edu_region:NL_source:nlwiki, display=title Universities and colleges established in 1927 1927 establishments in the Netherlands Catholic universities and colleges in the Netherlands Articles containing video clips Education in North Brabant Buildings and structures in Tilburg Universities in the Netherlands