Science and technology in Flanders, being the Flemish Community and more specifically the northern region of Belgium (Europe), is well developed with the presence of several universities and research institutes. These are strongly spread over all Flemish cities, from Kortrijk and Bruges in the Western side, over Ghent as a major university center alongside Antwerp, Brussels and Leuven to Hasselt and Diepenbeek in the Eastern side.
Six Flemish universities issue academic bachelor, master and doctoral degrees on a broad range of disciplines:
As a result of an international treaty between the Netherlands and Flanders, a co-operation between the Universiteit Hasselt (Flanders) and the Maastricht University (the Netherlands) is recognised as the
According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities [1] and the THES - QS World University Rankings, [2] four Flemish universities (Universiteit Antwerpen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Universiteit Gent and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) are among the top-150 universities in Europe and top-300 universities worldwide.
All recognised Flemish university colleges are associated with a Flemish university. The following colleges, which issue professional bachelor, academic bachelor's and master's degrees, are recognised by the Flemish government:
Antwerp University Association : University Colleges associated with the University of Antwerp
Ghent University Association: University Colleges associated with Ghent University
University Association Brussels : University Colleges associated with Vrije Universiteit Brussel
KU Leuven Association : University Colleges associated with Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Limburg University Association : University Colleges associated with Hasselt University
Finally, the Flemish government has recognised a number of "registered" institutes of higher education, which mostly issue specialised degrees or provide education mainly in a foreign language:
The following institutions provide various forms of public funding for research and development:
Flanders is home to several science and technology institutes.
Several science parks associated with the universities are spread over Flanders:
Transport in Belgium is facilitated with well-developed road, air, rail and water networks. The rail network has 2,950 km (1,830 mi) of electrified tracks. There are 118,414 km (73,579 mi) of roads, among which there are 1,747 km (1,086 mi) of motorways, 13,892 km (8,632 mi) of main roads and 102,775 km (63,861 mi) of other paved roads. There is also a well-developed urban rail network in Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent and Charleroi. The ports of Antwerp and Bruges-Zeebrugge are two of the biggest seaports in Europe. Brussels Airport is Belgium's biggest airport.
Articles related to Belgium include:
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is a Dutch and English-speaking research university in Brussels, Belgium. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engineering Campus, Brussels Health Campus, Brussels Technology Campus and Brussels Photonics Campus.
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. Founded in 1834 on the principle of "free inquiry", its founders envisaged the institution as a free-thinker reaction to the traditional dominance of Catholicism in Belgian education. The institution was avowedly secular and particularly associated with Liberal political movements during the era of pillarisation. The Free University was one of Belgium's major universities, together with the Catholic University of Leuven and the state universities of Liège and Ghent.
Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel is an independent Flemish art school based in the Schaerbeek municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is a predominantly Dutch-speaking institution located on the Paleizenstraat/Rue de Palais, and at another site, within reachable distance of Brussels' North Station.
The Flemish Diamond is the Flemish reference to a network of four metropolitan areas in Belgium, three of which are in the central provinces of Flanders, together with the Brussels-Capital Region. It consists of four agglomerations which form the four corners of an abstract diamond shape: Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven.
Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station is the main railway station in Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium, and the fourth-busiest in Belgium and busiest in Flanders, with 17.65 million passengers a year. The station is operated by the National Railway Company of Belgium (NMBS/SNCB).
VIB is a research institute located in Flanders, Belgium. It was founded by the Flemish government in 1995, and became a full-fledged institute on 1 January 1996. The main objective of VIB is to strengthen the excellence of Flemish life sciences research and to turn the results into new economic growth. VIB spends almost 80% of its budget on research activities, while almost 12% is spent on technology transfer activities and stimulating the creation of new businesses, in addition VIB spends approximately 2% on socio-economic activities. VIB is member of EU-LIFE, an alliance of leading life sciences research centres in Europe.
The education in the Flemish Community covers the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium and consists of three networks (netten): government-provided education (gemeenschapsonderwijs), subsidized public schools and subsidized free schools.
Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel was a Dutch language university founded in 2007. HUBrussel was the result of a merger between Brussels-based colleges European University College Brussels, Vlekho, HONIM and Catholic University of Brussels (KUBrussel).
Science and technology in Brussels, the central region of Belgium (Europe), is well developed with the presence of several universities and research institutes.
KU Leuven is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. Founded in 1425, it is the oldest university in Belgium and the oldest university in the Low Countries.
The Catholic University of Leuven was one of Belgium's major universities. It split along linguistic lines after a period of civil unrest in 1967–68 commonly known as the Leuven Affair in French and Flemish Leuven, based on a contemporary slogan, in Dutch. The crisis shook Belgian politics and led to the fall of the government of Paul Vanden Boeynants. It marked an escalation of the linguistic tension in Belgium after World War II and had lasting consequences for other bilingual institutions in Belgium within higher education and politics alike. In 1970 the first of several state reforms occurred, marking the start of Belgium's transition to a federal state.
VIVES University of Applied Sciences is a University College in West Flanders. The name refers to the Spanish-Brussian humanist Juan Luis Vives. VIVES is the result of a merger between KATHO and KHBO in 2013.