History

The history of Oriental Studies (in the broad sense of the term) in Belgium reaches much farther back in time than the history of the country itself, which in its present form won its independence as late as 1830. Oriental languages were first taught and studied in Leuven as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century, in a period when the countries now called Holland and Belgium still formed a loose entity called the Low Countries, which were part of the Habsburg empire of Spain, then ruled by Charles V. Since 1425 the city of Leuven had been the site of a university or Studium Generale as it was then called, whose foundation had been granted in a Papal Bull by Pope Martin V. Incidentally this was the first university in the Low Countries.

In 1517 the College of the Three Languages (Collegium Trilingue) was founded by Hieronymus van Busleyden, canon of Mechelen, a humanist, diplomat and friend of Thomas More and Erasmus of Rotterdam. At the initiative of the latter, Busleyden bequeathed his fortune to a foundation for the establishment in Leuven of an institute for the study of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Though the Collegium Trilingue was formally independent from the Faculty of Theology, its main purpose was to provide theology students with a solid knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew as an indispensable means for a correct interpretation of the Bible.

In 1588 the Northern Provinces seceded from the Spanish empire and became a republic. The southern regions - roughly present-day Belgium minus Liege and Limburg - remained part and parcel of the Spanish empire, and were hence called the Spanish Netherlands. In 1713 these Spanish Netherlands became part of the Austrian Empire. The Austrian period marked the highlight of enlightened despotism and the Catholic University of Leuven, as a stronghold of the vested interests of the church, suffered considerably from official interference, especially under Emperor Joseph II (ruled 1780-1790).

But worse was to come, when the Austrian Netherlands were invaded and occupied by the troops of the French Revolution. In 1797 the university was summarily abolished. Leuven remained without its university under Napoleonic rule. During the short period of the reunification of the Northern and Southern Netherlands (1815-1830), King William I created three state universities in the southern part of the kingdom: in Ghent, Liege and Leuven.

After the united kingdom of the Netherlands had fallen apart and Belgium had won its independence in 1830, a reform of the educational system was implemented, which led to the abolition of the state university at Leuven in 1835. The Belgian bishops, who in the meantime had resuscitated the catholic university in Mechelen in 1834, were allowed to transfer their institution to the city of Leuven. Thus the tradition of the former university was revived under the name of Université Catholique de Louvain.

The Oriental Studies of the Collegium Trilingue, which had equally been closed down by the French Occupation, were restored to life by J.T. Beelen, a Dutchman, born in Amsterdam in 1807, who had chosen to remain in Belgium after 1830. In that year he was appointed professor in the Holy Scripture at the Faculty of Theology. In this capacity he taught Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic. In the scheme of the Faculty of Theology, Oriental Studies almost naturally were destined to be an ancillary to the exegesis of the Bible. At the outset the same attitude very much prevailed in the Faculty of Letters, which normally should have been expected to push its areas of interest further east to include the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. Absence of colonial interests in these regions, however, at least partly accounts for the belated development of Indian and far Eastern Studies.

During the period leading up to the First World War, Indian, Iranian and many more languages were added to the curriculum of both the Faculty of Theology and the Faculty of Letters. However, until the mid-1930s the courses remained scattered over two faculties and did not lead up to a regular degree in Oriental Studies as such. Some felt that the time had come to bring lecturers and courses together under one and the same roof. As the chancellor stated in his official announcement of the establishment of an Orientalist Institute in 1936: "During the first three quarters of the nineteenth century, the different branches of Oriental Studies mainly played the role of ancillary sciences, in the service of either scriptural and theological studies or classical philology. However these disciplines have long since become independent and we should have started uniting forces and efforts many years ago. This unification has now become a fact in the Orientalist Institute of Leuven, which will have as its program the philological instruction of all ancient languages and the critical instruction of the history of the ancient peoples of the Orient."

Thus was created a new degree of "Licentiate of Oriental Philology and Philosophy", comprising two years of study. To be eligible for enrollment one had to have the degree of "candidate" of Philosophy and Letters or a certificate of equivalent studies. Besides a number of common courses one could choose for a specific area of the Far East. One had to study three languages from the area chosen. Requirements for a doctor's degree included an intensive examination over the major language of one's choice and the presentation and viva voce defense of a printed dissertation (thesis). Far Eastern Studies in the broad sense did make a step forward thanks to the monumental contribution of professor Etienne Lamotte. This scholar, appointed professor in 1932, distinguished himself in the study of Buddhism. Equally at home in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan as in classical Chinese, he poured out impressive translations and studies of Buddhist scriptures, thus building himself and the institute a world reputation.

The sixties were a decade of upheaval and tremendous change for the university. In the years 1966-1967 the university was divided into two separate entities: a Dutch-speaking university, which remained in the historic town of Leuven, and a French-speaking university which moved out to a new site in the French-speaking part of Belgium and was renamed Louvain-la-Neuve. The unitary Orientalist Institute was divided along the same linguistic lines. Most of the professors concerned with the Far East being French-speaking, the Far Eastern section moved to Louvain-la-Neuve, where Lamotte continued to teach.

The Orientalist Institute expanded its program to a four years curriculum in 1974. In 1978 it gained the full status of department within the Faculty of Letters and started a four years program of Far Eastern Studies. When China opened its doors in 1979, a programme of Sinology was established with Prof. U. Libbrecht (retired since 1993) at its head. Since then the programme has witnessed a considerable expansion. At present, apart from the general programme -consisting of courses in Chinese language (both modern and classical), history and philosophy- students are offered the opportunity to specialise themselves in either culture-and-history or economy. The classes are mainly taught in Dutch. In accordance with the Bologna-agreement on the reform of European higher education, the acadamic year 2004-2005 will witness the introduction of the first stage of the Bachelor-Master program.


Based on a text written by prof. W. Vande Walle