The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

located in the city of

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. The University of Antwerp is characterised by its high standards in education, internationally competitive research and entrepreneurial approach. It was founded in 2003 after the merger of three smaller universities.

History

Origins

The university's roots go back to Sint-Ignatius Handelshogeschool (Saint-Ignatius School for Higher Education in Commerce) founded by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

s (Society of Jesus) in Antwerp in 1852. This was one of the first European business schools to offer formal university degrees. It later opened a Faculty of Literature and Philosophy (including Law) and a Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. It was renamed Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen (UFSIA) in the 1960s when the Belgian government granted it university status. In the early 1970s UFSIA joined into a confederation with "Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen" (RUCA) and "Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen" (UIA), public institutions.

Merger

In 2003 UFSIA, RUCA, and UIA merged into the University of Antwerp to become the first explicitly pluralistic university in Belgium, offering philosophical, ethical, and spiritual discourse and openness towards religion and intercultural dialogue. It soon became the third largest university in

with 20,000 students. In order to face the challenges posed by the internationalization of European education and research, the university is part of the

Antwerp University Association The Antwerp University Association (in ''Dutch'': Associatie Universiteit & Hogescholen Antwerpen or AUHA) is a Belgian association for higher education, with members located primarily in Antwerp. The leading institute is the University of Antwerp. ...

(AUHA). The Catholic influence that the Jesuits had at UFSIA continues through the Saint Ignatius University Centre (UCSIA), Antwerp, founded in 2003. In September 2020, the University of Antwerp chose to start the new academic year with stricter coronavirus measures than those recommended by the government.

Faculties

The University of Antwerp has 34 academic bachelor programmes, 83 master programmes, 26 master-after-master programmes and 21 postgraduates. In addition, there are 26 programmes completely taught in English (1 bachelor, 16 master, 6 master-after-master and 3 postgraduate programmes). All of these programmes are divided into 9 faculties. *Business and Economics *Pharmaceutical, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences *Medicine and Health Sciences *Arts *Design Sciences (including architecture and conservation) *Social Sciences *Law *Applied Engineering Sciences *Science The

Institute of Development Policy and Management The Institute of Development Policy (IOB) is an independent institute of the University of Antwerp in Antwerp, Belgium. The institute is involved in academic teaching, scientific research and service to the community in the area of economic, poli ...

(IOB) has an autonomous faculty-like UAntwerp status and

Antwerp Management School The Antwerp Management School () is the University of Antwerp's autonomous business school. It is located in the historical center of the city of Antwerp. The school offers eight full-time master programs and more than sixty short or long-term ex ...

is an autonomous school within the University of Antwerp.

Campuses

The six campuses are located all over the city of Antwerp, from the historic city centre to the green belt to the south of the city. * Stadscampus: Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerpen * Campus Mutsaard: Mutsaardstraat 31, 2000 Antwerpen * Campus Paardenmarkt: Paardenmarkt 92, 2000 Antwerpen * Campus Drie Eiken: Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk (Antwerpen) * Campus Middelheim: Middelheimlaan 1, 2020 Antwerpen * Campus Groenenborger: Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerpen

Academic ranking

In the 2010

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

the University of Antwerp was ranked 179th overall in the world. On the 2009

THE–QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with ''Times Hig ...

list (in 2010

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...

and

parted ways to produce separate rankings), University of Antwerp was ranked on a shared 177th place. An overview of the

THE-QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with ''Times Hig ...

up to 2011: Times Higher Education World University Ranking:

Notable alumni

Economics

Marcia De Wachter Marcia De Wachter (born Wilrijk, 9 October 1953) is a Belgian economist who is a Director of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB). She was appointed Director (Honorary Vice-Governor) of the NBB on 1 March 1999 for a first term of 6 years, which was ...

(1953–), director 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 ...

Patrick Janssens Patrick Janssens (born 19 September 1956) is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp. Career Janssens studied "Political and Social Sciences" and "Applied Economic Sciences" (bo ...

(1956–), politician (Flemish MP, former mayor of Antwerp) *

Mimi Lamote Mimi Lamote (born Ostend, 27 April 1964) is a Belgian businesswoman. Since December 2006, she is the Chair of the Flemish Socio-economic Forum of Flanders in Action of the Flemish government. She is a member of the board of Belgacom. Mimi Lamote ...

(1964–), CEO Mayerline *

Philippe Muyters Philippe Muyters (born 6 December 1961) is a Belgian politician from the Flemish Region and is a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). Biography Muyters was born in Antwerp. He is of Spanish descent on his mother's side and Belgian descent ...

(1961–), politician (Flemish minister)

History

Bart De Wever Bart Albert Liliane De Wever (; born 21 December 1970) is a Belgian author, historian and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Belgium since February 2025. From 2004 to 2025, De Wever had been the leader of the New Flemish Allianc ...

, (1970-), politician (

prime minister of Belgium The prime minister of Belgium (; ; ) or the premier of Belgium is the head of the federal government of Belgium, and the most powerful person in Belgian politics. The first head of government in Belgian history was Henri van der Noot in 179 ...

(2025–present), representative, floor leader

New Flemish Alliance The New Flemish Alliance ( ; N-VA) is a Flemish Movement, Flemish nationalist, Conservatism, conservative Political parties in Belgium, political party in Belgium. The party was established in 2001 by the right-leaning faction of the centrist-na ...

party and mayor of Antwerp) * Marie-Rose Morel, politician

Law

* Gerolf Annemans (1958–), politician (representative, floor leader

Vlaams Belang Vlaams Belang (; ; VB) is a Flemish nationalist, Eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the Flemish Region and Brussels Capital Region of Belgium. It is widely considered by the media and political analysts to be on the polit ...

party) *

Peter Van Den Bossche Peter van den Bossche (born 1959) is a professor of international economic law at the University of Bern ( World Trade Institute). In 2018 he was elected president of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). He served as a judge on the A ...

(1959-), professor and member of the

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

Appellate Body The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTOAB) is a standing body of seven persons that hears appeals from reports issued by Judicial panel, panels in disputes brought on by WTO members. The WTOAB can uphold, modify or reverse the le ...

Cathy Berx Cathy Hilde Raymond Berx (born 8 January 1969 in Berchem) is a Belgian Christian Democrat politician, jurist and governor of the province of Antwerp. Cathy Berx is married to Johan Meeusen, vice-rector and professor of European Law at the Univer ...

(1969–), jurist and politician (governor of the province of Antwerp) * Jan Grauls (1948–), diplomat (ambassador) * Mieke Offeciers-Van De Wiele (1952–), politician (former minister) *

Kris Peeters Kris Peeters (; born 18 May 1962) is a Belgium, Belgian politician of the Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams, Christian Democratic and Flemish party who served as vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his ...

(1962–), politician (

Minister-President of Flanders The minister-president of Flanders () is the Head of government, head of the Flemish Government, which is the executive branch of the Flemish Region and Flemish Community.See the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. The incumbent o ...

) *

Herman Portocarero Herman J.P. Portocarero (born 6 January 1952, in Antwerp) is a Belgian writer and diplomat of Portuguese and Spanish ancestry. Diplomat After graduating law school at Antwerp University, Portocarero practiced law at the Antwerp bar. He joined t ...

(1952–), author and diplomat * Matthias Storme (1959–), lawyer and politician *

Rudi Thomaes Rudi, Baron Thomaes (21 August 1952 – 25 July 2018) was a Belgian businessman and CEO of the Federation of Belgian Enterprises and a member of VOKA. Education He graduated as a bachelor of law from the University of Antwerp (UFSIA) and obtai ...

(1952–2018), former CEO of the

Federation of Belgian Enterprises The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (, VBO, , FEB) is the only Belgian non-profit organization representing companies in all three regions of Belgium. Its members, the different Belgian sectorial employers' organizations, represent companie ...

* Bruno Valkeniers, businessman and politician (party leader of Vlaams Belang) * Staf Van Reet, businessman

Medicine

Paul Stoffels Paul, Baron Stoffels (born 8 March 1962 in Turnhout, Belgium) is a Belgian doctor, who studied medicine at the University of Hasselt and the University of Antwerp (UA). In addition he studied Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Princ ...

(1962–), cofounder of

Tibotec Tibotec was a pharmaceutical company with a focus on research and development of the treatment of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The company was founded in 1994 and then acquired by Johnson & Johnson and merged into its Jan ...

and

Virco The Virco Manufacturing Corporation, more commonly known as Virco, is an American furniture manufacturer based in Torrance, California which focuses on providing products for educational markets. The principal products of the company include stu ...

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Mantombazana "Manto" Edmie Tshabalala-Msimang Order for Meritorious Service, OMSS (née Mali; 9 October 1940 – 16 December 2009) was a South African politician. She was Deputy Minister of Justice from 1996 to 1999 and served as Minister of He ...

(1940–2009), South African politician

Linguistics and Literature & Philosophy

* Clara Cleymans (1989–), actress, voice actress and musical theatre singer * Jan Huyghebaert (1945–), banker *

Jan Leyers Jan Anna August Leyers (born 16 May 1958 in Wilrijk, Belgium) is a Belgian singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was a member of the group Soulsister and later became a solo musician and host of various television series. Music ca ...

(1958–), author, musician and presenter * Hugo Matthysen (1956–), author, musician and presenter *

Bart Peeters Bart August Maria Peeters (born 30 November 1959) is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor. Biography Early years Peeters studied Germanic philology and drama in Antwerp. There, he met Jan Leyers and Hugo Matthysen, wit ...

(1959–), musician and presenter * Matthias Storme (1959–), lawyer and politician

Political and Social Sciences

* Jos Geysels, former politician and chairman 11.11.11 *

(1956–), politician (Flemish MP, mayor of Antwerp) *

Marthe Wandou Marthe Wandou (born 15 October 1963) is a Cameroonian lawyer and women's rights activist. Early life and education Wandou was born in Kaélé, Cameroon on 15 October 1963. Her parents were supportive of female education, and she was one of the f ...

(1963–), Cameroonian activist * Peter Mertens (1969–), politician * Lieven Janssens (1977–), politician (former mayor of Vorselaar) *

Johan Vande Lanotte Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte (born 6 July 1955) is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005. He handed down his leadership positions after the SP.A lost in the 2007 general elec ...

(1955–), politician (minister, MP, senator) *

Johan Van Hecke Johan Jozef Marie Clara Van Hecke (born 2 December 1954 in Ghent) is a Belgian politician and Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and ...

(1954–), member of the European Parliament *

Mieke Vogels Maria Bertha Charlotte (Mieke) Vogels (born 20 April 1954) Belgium, Belgian politician from Flanders in the environmentalist party Groen!. Education In 1978, Vogels earned a master's degree in Political and Social Sciences from the University ...

(1954–), politician (former minister, Flemish MP)

Sciences

Dries Buytaert Dries Buytaert (born 19 November 1978)Curriculum Vitae
is ...

(1978–), author of

Drupal Drupal () is a free and open-source web content management system (CMS) written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Drupal provides an open-source back-end framework for at least 14% of the top 10,000 websites worldwide ...

* Didier de Chaffoy de Courcelles (1953–), vice-president R&D of

Janssen Pharmaceutica Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine (formerly Janssen Pharmaceuticals) is a Belgian pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Ph ...

Peter Piot Sir Peter Karel, Baron Piot (born 17 February 1949) is a Belgian-British microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS. After helping discover the Ebola virus in 1976 and leading efforts to contain the first-ever recorded Ebola epide ...

(1949–), microbiologist, head of

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS; , ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ex ...

Vincent Timmerman Vincent Timmerman is a Belgian scientist working at the VIB Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Antwerp of Christine Van Broeckhoven. His research is focused on inherited disorders of the peripheral nervous system, classified a ...

, molecular biologist * Christine Van Broeckhoven (1953–), scientist and politician * Rosa Rademakers (1978-), neurobiologist * Anthony Liekens (1975–), informaticists, biologist, inventor and educator

Notable faculty

Marc Bossuyt Marc, Baron Bossuyt (born 9 January 1944 in Ghent) is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and a former judge and president at the Belgian Constitutional Court. Bossuyt obtained a Dr.iur (LLM) at the University of Ghent in ...

, law * Fernand Deschamps (1868–1957), philosophy * Rudy Martens, management *

Bence Nanay Bence Nanay (born 1974) is a Belgian philosopher and film critic. He is co-director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology at the University of Antwerp and Senior Research Associate at Peterhouse, Cambridge University. Work Bence Nanay is Profe ...

, philosophy * Christine Van Broeckhoven, molecular biologist * Christine Van Den Wyngaert, law * Frank Vandenbroucke, Applied Economics and Social Sciences * Hans Vangheluwe, computer science

Student life

Sports

The University of Antwerp has a long tradition in organizing international student championships. The following

FISU The International University Sports Federation (FISU; ) is responsible for the organization and governance of worldwide sports competitions for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25. It was founded in 1949 as the world governing body of ...

, EUSA and

IFIUS IFIUS (International Federation for Interuniversity Sport) was a democratic non-profit organisation whose main objective was to organise the yearly World Interuniversity Games, in which teams of students from different universities and colleges wor ...

events have been organized: * 1978: FISU World University Cycling Championship * 1982: FISU World University Cross Country Championship * 1992: FISU World University Chess Championship * 2004: IFIUS World Interuniversity Games * 2006: FISU World University Cycling Championship * 2007: EUSA European University Bridge Championship

Student organisations

At the University of Antwerp there are faculty clubs, regional clubs and political clubs. Faculty bound clubs are governed by VUAS which consists of

Unifac In statistical thermodynamics, the UNIFAC method ( UNIQUAC Functional-group Activity Coefficients)Aage Fredenslund, Russell L. Jones and John M. Prausnitz, "Group-Contribution Estimation of Activity Coefficients in Nonideal Liquid Mixtures", ''A ...

and ASK-Stuwer. Political and philosophical clubs are governed by PFK-Antwerpen. The student newspaper is called "Dwars".

References

External links

* * {{authority control

2003 establishments in Belgium Universities and colleges established in 1852 Education in Antwerp Buildings and structures in Antwerp Organisations based in Antwerp Province 1852 establishments in Belgium Universities and colleges formed by merger in Belgium

History

Origins

Merger

Faculties

Campuses

Academic ranking

Notable alumni

Economics

History

Law

Medicine

Linguistics and Literature & Philosophy

Political and Social Sciences

Sciences

Notable faculty

Student life

Sports

Student organisations

See also

References

External links