View source for University Foundation

<div style="text-align:right;">[https://www.bestor.be/wiki/index.php/Fondation_Universitaire FR]</div>
<div style="text-align:right;">[https://www.bestor.be/wiki_nl/index.php/Universitaire_Stichting-Fondation_Universitaire NL]</div>
[[File:Fondation Universitaire.jpg|570px|right|via Journées du Patrimoine Open Monumentendagen Heritage Days, "UNIVERSITAIRE STICHTING, Egmontstraat 11 – Brussel FONDATION UNIVERSITAIRE, rue d’Egmont 11 – Bruxelles", [s.d.] https://www.pinterest.com/pin/551268810608561514/?lp=true]]]
Other names: 
*Universitaire Stichting
*Fondation Universitaire
[[category: Scientific institutions]][[category:Science funding]][[category:Creation 1901-1925]]
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===History===
The University Foundation is an institution of public utility created by the law of 6 July and the royal decree of 31 August 1920. This institution originated from two organisations set up during the first world war (1914-1918) to deal with the economic crisis caused by the German invasion. On the one hand, the National Relief and Food Committee (''Comité National de Secours et d'Alimentation'' (CNSA)) was endowed by [[Solvay, Ernest, Gaston, Joseph (1838-1922)|Ernest Solvay]] and organised by [[Francqui, Émile Lucien Joseph (1863-1935)|Émile Francqui]], and on the other hand, the [[Commission for the Relief of Belgium|Commission for the Relief of Belgium (CRB)]] was created and organised by the American businessman Herbert Hoover.As early as 1916, Francqui set up a 'University Foundation Commission' composed of members of the various Belgian universities and tasked with considering the use of the remaining funds of the CNSA (the majority of which had been provided by the Belgian state) with a view to reviving higher education after the conflict.<ref> DESPY-MEYER, André, Institutions et réseaux, in {{Halleux 1}} p. 82.</ref>
In 1919, Francqui and Herbert Hoover, president of the [[Commission for the Relief of Belgium|CRB]], signed an agreement within the framework of this commission which granted the four universities, the [[University of Mons|''École des mines de Mons'']] and the [[Colonial High School|École coloniale supérieure of Antwerp]] an increase in their assets. 
This agreement also provides an endowment to two foundations: the University Foundation and the [[Commission for the Relief of Belgium|Commission for Relief in Belgium Educational Foundation]] in New York. The bill creating the University Foundation was tabled in the Senate on 24 April 1920 by the Minister of Science and Arts, Jules Destrée, and adopted on 6 July 1920. It opened its doors in 1922, in the premises it still occupies, at 11, Rue d'Egmont (Brussels-City).

<br/>The first president of the University Foundation was Émile Francqui. Under his direction the institution adopted the following programme:
*The financing of travel grants and loans to students from disadvantaged families 
*Subsidising research centres and laboratories in Belgian universities to hire young researchers
*Coordination of scientific research in our country (interface between universities and the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga for the analysis of radium properties, updating of university libraries, etc.), supplemented by financial support for scientific publications
*The organisation of a university club "à l'anglaise" (with a restaurant and a hotel) set up as a meeting centre for Belgian and foreign professors and researchers.

<br/>Subsequently, the university foundation actively participated in the creation of several scientific institutions and organisations. 
<br/>Here is a list of the main ones:
*The creation of the [[National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS-NFWO)|FNRS]] in 1928
*The creation of the [[Francqui Foundation]] in 1932
*The Hoover Foundation for the devellopment of the [[University of Brussels]]
*The Hoover Foundation for the devellopment of the [[University of Leuven]]
*The national foundation for the fight against cancer. 
*The [[Institut de Médecine Tropicale-Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde|institut de médecine tropicale Prince Léopold]]
*The Institut National pour l'Etude Agronomique du Congo Belge [[Institut National pour l'Étude Agronomique du Congo Belge - Nationaal Instituut voor de Landbouwkunde in Belgisch Congo|INEAC - NILCO]]
*The Institut des parcs nationaux au Congo belge
*The [[Institut pour la Recherche scientifique en Afrique centrale - Instituut voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in Centraal Afrika|IRSAC - IWOCA]]
* la Jeunesse belge à l'étranger
* la [[Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre]]<ref>[http://www.fondationuniversitaire.be/fr/historique.php ''Le site Internet de la Fondation Universitaire''], consulté le 22 mars 2011.</ref>

<br/>Après la Seconde Guerre Mondiale, le gouvernement apporte une dotation de 100 millions pour redresser les finances de la Fondation.

<br/>
===Presidents===
* de 1920-1935 : [[Francqui, Émile Lucien Joseph (1863-1935)|Émile Francqui]]
*de 1935 à1970 : [[Willems, Jean (1895-1970)|Jean Willems]]
*de 1970 à 1979, la présidence est confiée alternativement à chaque recteur des 6 principales universités du pays pour un mandat d’un an.
*de 1979 à 1982 : [[Vlerick André, baron (1919-1990)|le Baron André Vlerick]]
*de 1982 à 2001: Baron Gilbert de Landsheere
*2001-: J. Willems

<br/>
===Bibliography===
*[http://www.fondationuniversitaire.be/fr/historique.php ''Le site Internet de la Fondation Universitaire''], consulté le 22 mars 2011.
*[http://www.belspo.be/belspo/res/coord/act_cult/subvent/fonun_fr.stm ''Le site Internet de Belspo''], consulté le 22 mars 2011.
*Despy-Meyer, André, Institutions et réseaux, in {{Halleux 1}} p. 82.
*Ranieri L., ''Émile Francqui ou l’intelligence créatrice'', Paris, Duculot, 1985.

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===Notes===
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