The Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 University Foundation (French: Fondation Universitaire, Dutch: Universitaire Stichting) was founded in 1920. The goal of the Foundation, as was put forward by Emile Francqui, is to promote scientific activity at Belgian universities.

Goals

1. To provide grants and study loans to students from less privileged families.
2. To help university research centres and laboratories to attract young researchers.
3. To stimulate contacts and collaboration between the different Belgian research institutions by supporting scientific publications.
4. To organize a Club Universitaire as a meeting place for Belgian and foreign academics.

History

The money for the foundation came from the remaining funds from the Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) and the National Committee for Help and Food

BAEF

The Belgian American Educational Foundation or BAEF is an independent philanthropy. It supports the exchange of university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium. The foundation fosters the higher education of deserving Belgians and Americans through its...

. The help to the Belgian people during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 had been organized by Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

 and Emile Francqui

Emile Francqui

Emile Francqui was a Belgian soldier, diplomat and business man. Being an orphan, he was sent to the military school when he was 15 years old...

On 28 August 1919, Herbert Hoover proposed to Emile Francqui, President of the National Committee for Help and Food, and to Léon Delacroix

Léon Delacroix

Léon Frédéric Gustave Delacroix was a Belgian statesman. Before entering politics, he was a renowned lawyer, and served as president of the Belgian Court of Cassation from 1917 to 1918. In the context of reconstruction after World War I, he was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister and served from...

, Prime Minister of Belgium, to use the funds, roughly 150 million Belgian francs, to support university education. The Belgian government decided to give twenty million to each of the four universities, and to use 55 million francs to establish the University Foundation. The remaining funds were used to set up the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF). The first president of the Foundation was Emile Francqui.

See also

• Science and technology in Belgium
  Science and technology in Belgium
  Science and technology in Belgium is well developed with the presence of several universities and research institutes. As Belgium is a federal state, science is organized at several levels...
  
  
• Francqui Foundation
  Francqui Foundation
  The Francqui Foundation was founded in 1932 by Emile Francqui and Herbert Hoover with the goal "to further the development of higher education and scientific research in Belgium". The foundation is a private foundation under the legal from of a Belgian "Institution of Public Utility"...
  
  
• Academia Belgica
  Academia Belgica
  The Academia Belgica is an academic organization. The goal of the Academy is to promote the cultural, scientific and artistic cooperation between Italy and Belgium....
  
  
• Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences
  Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences
  The Royal Belgian Academy Council of Applied Sciences is a Belgian council, which consists of the Flemish Academy Committee for Science and Technology and Walloon Comité de l'Académie pour les Applications de la Science committees of the Flemish and French Academies of Science in Belgium. BACAS...
  
  
• National Fund for Scientific Research
  NFWO
  The National Fund for Scientific Research is a government institution in Belgium for supporting scientific research...
  
  
• List of universities in Belgium
• List of Belgian Nobel laureates
• Cercle Gaulois
  Cercle Gaulois
  The Cercle Gaulois or Cercle Royal Gaulois Artistique et Littéraire is a Belgian club. The club has the aim of constituting a friendly, intellectual, artistic and literary, meeting place, free of any political, cultural or philosophical tendency...
  
  
• De Warande
  De Warande (Club)
  De Warande is a Flemish business club, located in Brussels, Belgium. The club was founded in Brussels in 1988, by Flemish businesspeople and the Flemish government. The club wants to bring together distinguished and representative personalities from the Flemish business community...