Today, with 20 faculties spread across six Belgian cities, UCLouvain remains true to its missions: to pass on knowledge, foster innovation and tackle today's global challenges - missions that are strengthened through the shared vision of Circle U.
A colorful launch: The “Nuit Bleue”
To kick off this anniversary year, UCLouvain launched the celebrations on February 6th with a unique event: the “Nuit Bleue”. The evening brought together nearly 10,000 people, including students, university staff, and residents. For 600 minutes, participants explored behind the scenes of their university through forty immersive activities, such as escape games on UCLouvain’s history, sports initiations, scientific experiments, and visits to unusual locations.
Fostering innovation in teaching, multilingualism, and research within Circle U.
While UCLouvain celebrates its past, it is also resolutely looking to the future. Drawing on its rich history of international cooperation and innovation, UCLouvain continues this tradition as a founding member of Circle U. The university brings its centuries of experience to this European alliance through several key initiatives. UCLouvain leads two platforms within the Circle U. ecosystem:
- CU.til (Teaching Innovation Lab) engages students and staff in co-designing the future of higher education. Its key mission is to enhance the quality of teaching and learning through student and staff collaboration in research, pedagogy, curricular innovation, professional development and internationalisation. Among its flagship initiatives we find: the CU.til week, an innovative "training the trainers" week; the TENet, the teacher education network; the MUN, the Model United Nations and the creation of a simulation-based learning network.
- CU.mil (Multilingualism, Interculturality, and Language Lab), dedicated to embracing multilingualism and interculturality as catalysts for academic and societal enrichment. At UCLouvain, CU.mil plays a key role in shaping Circle U.’s language policy and contributes to initiatives such as the co-organized Master’s course on Language Policy in Multilingual Contexts with Oslo, King’s, and Belgrade. In January, UCLouvain also hosted a three-day meeting with the Academic Chairs to advance this policy. Additionally, CU.mil recently launched the CU Language Teachers’ Nexus, a new community of practice supporting language educators across the alliance.
UCLouvain actively contributes to the Circle U. Sandpits, one of the alliance's most innovative initiatives that started within the ERIA (Empowering Research and Innovation Actions) framework. These dynamic collaborative workshops bring together researchers from all disciplines and external partners to spark creative dialogue and generate groundbreaking ideas. Through structured interactions and facilitation, participants explore emerging research topics, identify opportunities, and transform promising concepts into concrete research proposals. The next Sandpit, to be held in Louvain-la-Neuve, will explore the theme of democracy. Selected teams receive guidance and support throughout the process, from initial concept development to preparing competitive funding applications. The application deadline is 15 March 2025.
600 years old and still going strong
For six centuries, UCLouvain has continuously reinvented itself. Committed, open to the world, and rooted in its time, it continues to innovate to build the university of tomorrow through its partnership with Circle U.
