On 24 June 1834, Verhaegen presented his plan to establish a free university. Baron was able to convince Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen, the president of the lodge, to support the idea for a new university. At the same time, Auguste Baron had just become a member of the freemasonic lodge "Les Amis Philantropes", as had a large number of other intellectuals with enlightened ideas. The liberals in Belgium strongly opposed to this decision, and furthered their ideas for a university in Brussels as a counterbalance to the Catholic institution. In 1834, the Belgian episcopate decided to establish a Catholic university in Mechelen with the aim of regaining the influence of the Catholic Church on the academic scene in Belgium, and the Belgian government had the intent to close the university at Leuven and donate the buildings to the Catholic institution. Initially, they sought for the establishment of a state university, but the Belgian government showed little enthusiasm due to the onerous financial burden of yet another state university. A group of leading intellectuals in the fields of arts, science, and education – amongst whom Auguste Baron and the astronomer and mathematician Adolphe Quetelet - pointed out the advantages of a university to the new capital and country. In Brussels, the capital of the newly established country, a university was lacking. At the time of the declaration of independence of Belgium in 1830, two state universities existed in the cities of Ghent and Liège. The history of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel is closely linked with that of Belgium itself. Main article: Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) Establishment of a university in Brussels Its research articles are on average more cited than articles by any other Flemish university. It is also a strongly research-oriented institute, which has led to its top-189th position among universities worldwide. The university provides bachelor, master, and doctoral education to about 8,000 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students. The faculties cover a broad range of fields of knowledge including the natural sciences, classics, life sciences, social sciences, humanities, and engineering. The university is organised into 8 faculties that accomplish the three central missions of the university: education, research, and service to the community. Accordingly, the university is pluralistic – it is open to all students on the basis of equality regardless of their ideological, political, cultural or social background – and it is managed using democratic structures, which means that all members – from students to faculty – participate in the decision-making processes.
This is today still reflected in the university's motto Scientia vincere tenebras, or Conquering darkness by science, and in its more recent slogan Redelijk eigenzinnig (in Dutch), or Reasonably opinionated. He wanted to establish a university independent from state and church, where academic freedom would be prevalent. The Vrije Universiteit Brussel was formed by the splitting in 1970 of the Free University of Brussels, which was founded in 1834 by the Flemish-Brussels lawyer Pierre-Théodore Verhaegen. It has four campuses: Brussels Humanities, Science and Engineering Campus (in Elsene), Brussels Health Campus (in Jette), Brussels Technology Campus (in Anderlecht) and Brussels Photonics Campus (in Gooik). info) (English: Free University of Brussels) is a Dutch and English-speaking research university located in Brussels, Belgium.The Vrije Universiteit Brussel ( VUB) listen ( help University Association Brussels, UNICA, T.I.M.E.