Founded in 1425, KU Leuven has been a centre of learning for almost six centuries. Today, it is Belgium’s highest-ranked university (#45 worldwide in Times Higher Education) as well as one of the oldest and most renowned universities in Europe.

As a leading European research university and co-founder of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), KU Leuven has a strong record of securing funding from the most competitive research funds and was named Europe’s most innovative university four years in a row by Reuters (2016-2019).

KU Leuven is home to a vibrant community of international students and staff members, spread out over 10 campuses in Belgium. 19% of the university’s 58,000 students are international, representing no less than 163 countries. The Doctoral Schools provide internationally oriented PhD tracks for more than 5000 doctoral students.

All of KU Leuven’s disciplines proudly belong to the top 100 of their field. Excellence in education and excellence in research go hand in hand. The university works with a select number of top-level partner institutions worldwide and stimulates purposeful international mobility and intensive research cooperation. It continually strives to integrate the local and international student and research communities on all its campuses through a variety of programmes and activities.

KU Leuven Research & Development (LRD) is the technology transfer office of KU Leuven. Established in 1972 as one of the first technology transfer offices in Europe, LRD has a long tradition of collaborating with industry, patenting, licensing and creating spin-off companies. LRD is dedicated to valorising research, building bridges between science and industry, and transferring knowledge and technologies to the marketplace.