Closer ties with Université Libre de Bruxelles
01 Dec 08
The University of Oxford and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) have today formalised their longstanding collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding noting their ‘privileged partnership’.
The collaboration between the two universities is supported financially by the Wiener Anspach Foundation, whose aim is to help foster relationships between the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Funded initiatives include a number of research collaborations; funding for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers at one university to spend time at the other; a visiting professorship from Oxford or Cambridge at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, and an annual lecture by an Oxford or Cambridge academic at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
The Université Libre de Bruxelles was founded in 1834 as a university controlled neither by the state nor the church. It has seven faculties and a range of schools and institutes, and has 20,000 students. 27% of students, 23% of researchers and 10% of staff come from abroad.
Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Dr John HoodWe are pleased to have formalised this fruitful relationship, which involves academics and students in a wide range of subjects, here and in Brussels, working together on topics of mutual interest
Existing research collaborations between Oxford and ULB cover a diverse range of subjects, from tropical forest ecology to archaeology in Africa and from photonics to ancient Greece.
The Memorandum of Understanding will be signed by the Rector of ULB, Professor Philippe Vincke, and the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, Dr John Hood.
Dr Hood says: 'We are pleased to have formalised this fruitful relationship, which involves academics and students in a wide range of subjects, here and in Brussels, working together on topics of mutual interest.'
Professor Donna Kurtz of Oxford University’s Classics Faculty, who collaborates with colleagues at ULB in research, says of her own area of collaboration: 'The art of ancient Greece and Rome is fundamental to European cultural heritage. Collaborative research in the documentation, collection and reception of classical art enables these two universities to bring a rich European visual tradition spanning millennia to a global community.'