Facts and figures
Students (Belgian)
In 2010-2011, there were 11,011 students at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, an increase of almost 8% compared to the previous year. Nearly 1,300 new students or generation students (students enrolling in higher education for the first time) were registered.
The proportion of foreign students amounted to more than 15%.
Economic, Social and Political Sciences & Solvay Business School is the largest faculty
Based on the number of registrations, the Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences & Solvay Business School is the largest faculty (22 %), followed closely by the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy (15.2 %) and Law and Criminology (15.1%).
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Staff
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel employed 2,882 staff members on 31 December 2010. The academic personnel consisted of 1,891 people, and included nearly 700 professors. 991 people were employed as administrative and technical staff.
The UZ Brussel, the university hospital of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, employed 3,412 people.
Slightly more men (54%) than women (46%) are working at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
Among the academic personnel, men represent 62%, but the women (38%) have now started to catch up. Among the administrative and technical staff, women are in the majority: 61.5 % compared to 38.5 % male colleagues.
With a total of over 6,000 staff members, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is the largest Dutch-speaking employer in the Brussels Capital Region.
Research
In 2010, the research management of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel was praised by an external commission, coordinated by the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR). The Commission referred to the good link between research and education, considered the focus on internationalisation to be an excellent development, and praised the VUB for its strong tradition in terms of the quality assurance of its research.
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel had a research budget of 70 million euro available in 2010.
VUB and UGent will work together on end-of-life research
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the Ghent University (UGent) will join together their scientific insights in end-of-life research in a new alliance research group with the name “VUB-UGent End-of-Life Care Research Group (ZRLA)”. In this way, they intend to improve the quality of scientific research in this area.
Alliance Research Groups
The alliance between the Ghent University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel stimulates the formation of joint research groups. 26 such alliance research groups have already been established in the past three years.
Doctorates are on the increase
In the previous academic year, 134 researchers (compared to 114 in 2008-2009) successfully completed their doctoral thesis. The largest number of doctorates is to be found in the Faculties of Engineering Sciences, Science and Bio-engineering Sciences and Medicine and Pharmacy. In addition to this, there are 1,217 doctoral theses in preparation. Male PhD students are in the majority: 695 compared to 522 women.
Patents
On 1 January 2011, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel held 34 patents/patent applications in progress on its own behalf, and 72 patents were being held together with third parties, including Leuven R&D, VIB, IMEC and other partners (protections that have been applied for with regard to VUB inventions by companies are not included in these figures).
€SPACE – new spin-off
A new spin-off was founded at the VUB in 2010: €SPACE (Eurospace). The spin-off company originated from research at the Business Economics and Strategic Management department of the ES Faculty. €SPACE offers consultation regarding large, complex infrastructure projects from three complementary perspectives: strategic and legal planning, socio-economic development and spatial planning.
More information about research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel...
Education
The Vrije Universiteit Brussel offers 27 bachelor programmes, 68 Dutch and English-language master programmes and 24 master-after-master programmes, as well as a teacher programme and a wide range of post-graduate and post-academic programmes.
A total of 11,011 students enrolled at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel during the academic year 2010-2011; 7.97% more than in 2009-2010.
The new students and generation students represent 11.5% of the total number of VUB students.
The Interfaculty Department for the Education of Teachers (IDLO) has 137 enrolments for the Specific Teacher Programme.
Permanent assessment by students
Every academic year, VUB students assess the lecturers per educational component via the so-called Education e-valuation. This takes place on the basis of the following four aspects:
- Lectures
- Study material
- Working methods
- Examinations
The results for the academic year 2009-2010 indicate that the students’ opinions on the lectured educational components are largely positive.
Unique course on Technological Entrepreneurship for first-year Business Engineers
The first-year Business Engineer students started a Technological Entrepreneurship course in February 2011. It is the very first time that a university offers this type of course so early in the curriculum of an economic programme. With this innovation, the university highlights the importance of entrepreneurship and technology in the renewed Business Engineer programme.
- More information about education at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel