Programme

In terms of education, the three priorities are to:

1. Become once again the preferred multicampus University in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation by developing our appeal to Belgian and international bachelor’s, master’s and PhD students, as well as adults returning to university and hautes école students, on all our campuses.
2. Revise our teaching standards and our portfolio of courses and practical work, across all sectors and faculties, to reduce workload and free up creative time, while being bold in our pedagogical methods, thus maintaining high-quality teaching.
3. Reaffirm our leadership in educational innovation in all its forms (hybridisation, flipped classes, MOOCs, monitoring, multidisciplinarity, sandwich courses, mentoring, language learning, artists-in-residence, joint diplomas, minors, teacher initial training reform, etc.) to adapt to the increased personalisation of student courses in a context of growing student numbers.

In terms of research, the three priorities are to:

1. Free up creative time for teaching assistants, professors and researchers.
2. Attract and retain high-quality staff at our University by improving working conditions in the broadest sense.
3. Mobilise funding, via our “Louvain Next” Fund, to support the acquisition of high-quality external resources that will enable us to build up research over the long term (ERC, EOS, ARC, FEDER, FNRS, RW, Horizon Europe, Fondation Louvain, etc.) and consolidate our research support resources (infrastructure, research logisticians, etc.).

In terms of serving society, the three priorities are to:

1. Develop dynamic management of academic careers through a joint academic career plan (PAIC) as a genuine management tool for faculties and institutes, in order to allow, at different points in a career, greater investment in one of the University’s missions and especially in serving society (internal services, practical interventions, partnerships with companies, representation in society, promotion of research, voluntary work, charity work, popularisation, awareness-raising activities, etc.).
2. Recognise the importance of continuing education in academic careers (certificates, lectures, microcredits, SPOC, staggered timetables, etc.) as a lever for our University’s short-term impact on current and future societal issues.
3. Contribute to supporting the transition from secondary to higher education, to providing better guidance for both young and more experienced individuals, and to supporting measures that help vulnerable students succeed—all of which make UCLouvain attractive as an inclusive, high-quality university.

In support of our three University missions, our programme proposes eight cross-cutting transformation levers:

1. Improving the well-being and quality of working life of all University staff and supporting the development of talent and careers.
2. Developing organisational agility in response to a turbulent environment, administrative overload and the specific characteristics of a multicampus University.
3. A comprehensive plan to improve student life, paying particular attention to students in precarious situations.
4. Strengthening synergies between our two University hospitals and the University as a whole, in order to build an ambitious hospital strategy that makes sense vis-à-vis our Réseau Santé Louvain (“Louvain Health Network”).
5. A policy committed to equity, diversity and inclusion for all members of our community.
6. A strengthened and accelerated University social responsibility policy (in line with our current Transition Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).
7. A coherent and targeted regional and international outreach policy (Wallonia-Brussels Federation institutions, alumni, partner universities, Circle U., European and international institutions, etc.).
8. A cultural policy serving the development and empowerment of our students and the social cohesion of the members of our community.