Université de Liège

Founded in 1817, the University of Liège (ULiège) is one of Belgium's leading universities and the public university of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. It welcomes more than 29,000 students, 23% of them international, from 124 nationalities.

Its 11 Faculties cover the Humanities, Health Sciences, Sciences and Technology, with 39 bachelor's and 174 master's degrees, one of the most diversified academic offers in Belgium. Teaching is spread across three Walloon cities (Liège, Gembloux and Arlon) and several programmes hold international quality labels: EQUIS, AACSB, AEEEV and Conférence des Grandes Écoles.

Research is central to the institution: some 3,300 people carry out research activities, including around 2,400 doctoral students, almost half of them from abroad. Research units are active in biotechnology, life and medical sciences (human and veterinary), agronomy, space and engineering sciences and the environment, combining fundamental and applied research with public authorities and industry. ULiège takes part in over 120 EU framework-programme projects and holds 13 ERC grants and 29 Marie Curie projects. It collaborates with more than 1,000 teaching and research institutions worldwide. More than 100 spin-offs created by ULiège are in activity.

ULiège was also a pioneer of Open Access. Its compulsory deposit mandate, adopted in 2007, and the launch of its institutional repository ORBi (Open Repository and Bibliography) in 2008 made it one of the first universities in the world to require that all scientific output be archived and openly shared. The "Liège model" has since inspired institutions worldwide, and ORBi now gives free access to tens of thousands of full texts.

It is also a major employer in Wallonia, with over 5,700 staff, including 640 academics and 2,900 people involved in teaching and research. Together with the Liège University Hospital (CHU), it accounts for some 12,000 direct jobs across the provinces of Liège, Namur and Luxembourg.