Welcome from the Dean

Welcome to the oldest law faculty in the Low Countries. Many of our alumni claim that we are also the best, and we invite you to visit us and see for yourself.

In any case, we are the most European and international law faculty in Belgium. Each year we send more than 200 of our students to more than 90 different universities. Destinations vary from Kyu Shyu and Hong-Kong, to New York and Chicago, from Sydney and Stellenbosch, to Stockholm; Athens, Rome, Barcelona and Berlin are destinations closer to home. Each year we host approximately 300 foreign students in over 40 English courses.

We have been in business since 1425 and have experienced many historic events: wars, revolutions, heresy, occupation, closing and bombing of the University, student revolts and dictates from bishops. However we survived it all and continue today our primary mission, which is legal resarch and education.

Although the basic programmes at our Faculty for the degrees of Bachelor and Master in Law and Criminology are taught in Dutch, we have established many specialised Master of Laws programmes in English: European Community Law, International Business Law, Intellectual Property Law, European and International Taxation, European Social Security, European Criminology, and last but not least Information, Communication and Technology. On the European continent we were the first law faculty to organise all these master programmes in English. In addition, we provide an extensive Erasmus-Socrates exchange programme with a choice of dozens of courses in English. Finally we also run a doctoral programme for about 50 students including several foreign candidates. We allow candidates to write their doctoral thesis in various foreign languages. In order to supply all these services, we employ a staff of over 300 full professors, lecturers, assistants and administrative employees to serve 3000 students.

To find out more, come and have a look for yourself ! With 27,000 students and a population of 100,000, Leuven is a real student-town. It has the charm of a small city, and is only 30 minutes away from Brussels, the capital of Europe. The law students have their own house,
"Huis der Rechten", and for the foreign students in our Faculty there is the "International House".

Last but not least; we are aware of the fact that legal research and education may not be your only objective for coming to Leuven. Most of you are at a stage in your life where you want to find out who you are, what your basic values are in life and what you want accomplish in your future. The answers to all these questions are as important as the University experience itself. In Leuven, students have been making this clear to us for more than five hundred years and we have been paying attention by providing an environment where they can find the answers.

If you want to know more, have a further look at our website, or ask for our brochures.

So long!

Prof. Paul Van Orshoven,
dean.