University of Antwerp

University of Antwerp

Universiteit Antwerpen
Logo of the University of Antwerp
Type	Public
Established	1852; 165 years ago (1852)
Affiliation	Aurora, Utrecht Network, AACSB, EFDM, NVA0
Rector	Herman Van Goethem
Academic staff	± 5000
Students	± 20 000
Location	Antwerp, Belgium
Campus	City Campus Campus Middelheim Campus Groenenborger Campus Drie Eiken
Colours	Red and blue
Nickname	UA
Website	uantwerp
UA was formed in 2003 by the merger of Universitaire Faculteiten Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen, Rijksuniversitair Centrum Antwerpen, and Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen

The University of Antwerp (Dutch: Universiteit Antwerpen) is one of the major Belgian universities located in the city of Antwerp. The name is abbreviated as UAntwerp, as the abbreviation UA should no longer be used.

As of 2014, the University of Antwerp ranks as 170th globally according to Times Higher Education, 205th according to QS World University Rankings and between the 301 and 400th place according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

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

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 Flanders 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 (AUHA). The Catholic influence that the Jesuits had at UFSIA continues through the Saint Ignatius University Centre (UCSIA), Antwerp, founded in 2003.

The University of Antwerp has 33 academic bachelor programmes, 69 master programmes, 18 master-after-master programmes and 23 postgraduates. In addition, there are 31 programmes completely taught in English (13 master, 14 master-after-master and 4 postgraduate programmes). All of these programmes are divided into 9 faculties.