History, Affiliations and Rankings

Established in 1970, Vrije Universiteit Brussels is a research university located in Brussels, Belgium. The university was established by dividing the Free University of Brussels, which was established in 1834 by the Flemish-Brussels lawyer Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. The main motive of establishing the university was to have an independent institute from state and church, so academic freedom may remain. The university has affiliations with the University Association Brussels, the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), and Top International Managers in Engineering (T.I.M.E.). Vrije Universiteit Brussels ranks at # 251 in the World University Rankings by QS and #251 - 300 in the World University Rankings by the Times Higher Education 2022.

Infrastructure, Campuses and Courses

Vrije Universiteit Brussels is located in the centre of Belgium, Brussels. The institute has four campuses - the Brussels Humanities, Sciences & Engineering Campus is the main campus, which has almost all of the faculties situated on the Etterbeek campus. The institute has great state-of-the-art facilities at all of its campuses. There are smart classrooms, high-tech laboratories, audio-visual labs, computer labs, and seminar halls on the campuses. Vrije Universiteit Brussels is also a hub for sports and cultural activities. The faculties offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs at the institute are languages and Humanities, Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Engineering, Law and Criminology, Medicine, and Pharmacy.

Accomplishments and Alumni 

Vrije Universiteit Brussels through its research works plays a significant role in the policy-making decisions for Brussels. Vrije Universiteit Brussels has been awarded the “HR Excellence in Research Award”, which is given by European Commission to the research universities that have made an impact in aligning their human resource policies with the guidelines set in the "Charter & Code". The notable alumni of the institute are Marco Formentini (1930-2021), Italian Politician & former mayor of Milan, Willy Claes (1938–), former Minister of Foreign Affair and former Secretary General of NATO, and Louis Tobback (1938–), former mayor of Leuven and former Minister of the Interior - Belgium.

Student Diversity and Visiting Companies

Vrije Universiteit Brussels have over 20,000 students on-campus, out of which 8,000 are undergraduates, 1000 are graduates, with over 4,000 international students coming from 145 different nationalities. Vrije Universiteit Brussels actively promotes equality and diversity, guided by humanist values, the VUB values and facilitates diversity. The institution makes an effort to establish an atmosphere where each student and staff member is valued equally. The university enhances equality that does not remove the differences and celebrates the experiences of every individual and every group. The visiting companies are ICF - Consulting firm, Mercedes Benz, Amazon and others.