Lovanium University (french: Université Lovanium) was a Catholic

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

university in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

in the Belgian Congo. The university was established in 1954 on the

Kimwenza Kimwenza is a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Mont Ngafula commune in the south of the capital, Kinshasa. Location Kimwenza is on a plateau above the main city of Kinshasa. It is near to the Petites Chutes de la Lukaya. ...

plateau, near

. The university continued to function after independence until it was merged into the

National University of Zaire The National University of Zaire (french: Université nationale du Zaïre, or UNAZA) was a federated university in Zaire (the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was formed in August 1971 when the country's three existing universiti ...

in 1971. It can be considered an antecedent of the University of Kinshasa.

Early history

Before the foundation of Lovanium, the Catholic University of Louvain already operated multiple institutes for higher education in the Belgian Congo. The ''Fomulac'' (Fondation médicale de l'université de Louvain au Congo), was founded in 1926, with the goal of forming Congolese medical personnel and researchers specialized in tropical medicine. In 1932 the Catholic University of Louvain founded the ''Cadulac'' (Centres agronomiques de l'université de Louvain au Congo) in

Kisantu Kisantu, is a town in the western Democratic Republic of Congo, lying south west of Kinshasa, on the Inkisi River. It is known for its large cathedral and for its botanical gardens, which include an arboretum of indigenous trees. Location Kisan ...

. Cadulac was specialized in agricultural sciences and formed the basis for what was later to become Lovanium.

Lovanium

The university was established in 1954 on the

plateau, near Leopoldville (now

). Lovanium was founded by the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and was named after it (''Lovanium'' being Latin for Leuven). When it opened, the university received heavy subsidies from the colonial government, it also received funding from the Ford Foundation, the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carneg ...

and the United States Agency for International Development and was lauded as the best university in Africa. The official opening of the university was in 1954, the first students were to graduate from Lovanium in 1958. Africa's first nuclear reactor, TRIGA I, was established at Lovanium in 1958, in conjunction with the U.S. Atoms for Peace program. In August 1971, the university merged with two other universities in the Congo to form the federalised

(Université Nationale du Zaïre, UNAZA). Between 1980 and 1991, the universities were again divided into three institutions, the University of Kinshasa,

Kisangani University The University of Kisangani (UNIKIS) is located in the city of Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was founded in 1963 by Protestant missionaries as the Free University of the Congo (french: Université libre du Congo, ULC); it w ...

, and 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 locate ...

Notable alumni

Valentin Y. Mudimbe Valentin-Yves Mudimbe (born 8 December 1941, Jadotville, Belgian Congo) is a Congolese philosopher, professor, and author of poems, novels, as well as books and articles on African culture and intellectual history. Mudimbe is Ruth F. DeVarney Prof ...

* Clémentine Nzuji * Étienne Tshisekedi *

Simon Mbatshi Batshia Simon Mbatshi Batshia (born 24 May 1949) is a politician from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was the Governor of Bas-Congo province from February 2007 to March 2012, when he was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly (Democratic Rep ...

Pius Ngandu Nkashama Pius Ngandu Nkashama is a professor, writer, playwright, poet and literary critic. He was born in 1946 in Mbujimayi in the province of Kasai Oriental in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After a degree in philosophy and letters at Lovanium ...

Albert Ndele Albert Ndele Bamu (born 15 August 1930) is a Congolese politician and banker. He served as chairman of the College of Commissioners-General that governed the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) for two weeks while Justin Marie Bomboko Justin ...

Barthélémy Bisengimana Barthélémy Bisengimana Rwema (born 12 May 1935) was a Zairean official who served as head of the Bureau of the President under Mobutu Sese Seko from May 1969 to February 1977.Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, in ''States, Borders and Citizenship: Negot ...

Jacques Depelchin Jacques Depelchin (born 06/03/1942) is a Congolese historian and militant. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Ota Benga International Alliance for Peace in the DR Congo. Background A native of the Congo, Depelchin was educated int ...

Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum Jean-Jacques Muyembe is a Congolese microbiologist. He is the general director of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (''INRB''). He was part of team at the Yambuku Catholic Mission Hospital tha ...

Nkulu Mitumba Kilombo Norbert Nkulu Mitumba Kilombo (born 15 December 1946) is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In the first cabinet of Prime Minister Antoine Gizenga, formed on 5 February 2007, he was named Minister of State to the President of ...

Angela Okolo Angela Okolo is a Nigerian professor of pediatrics and child health, neonatologist in the department of Pediatrics, Federal Medical Center, Asaba and President of the Nigerian Society of Neonatal Medicine (NISONM). Early life and education Sh ...

Notable faculty

* Marcel Lihau *

Sophie Kanza Sophie Lihau-Kanza or Zala Lusibu N'Kanza (8 February 1940 – 2 April 1999) was a Congolese politician and sociologist. She was the first woman of her country to receive a secondary education, the first to graduate from a university, and the firs ...

Daniel Biebuyck Daniel P. Biebuyck (1925 – 31 December 2019) was a Belgian scholar of Central African art. Biography Biebuyck was born in 1925 in Deinze, Belgium. He studied classical philology, law, cultural anthropology, and African art at the State U ...

References

External links