Study a one year Master’s programme in the fields of linguistics, literature, cultural and area studies at KU Leuven, Belgium’s highest ranked university, right next to Brussels.
From Aeschylus to Sanskrit grammar, medieval song books to twentieth-century mass media, the KU Leuven Faculty of Arts research and courses span the globe and cover much of human history. The faculty’s researchers study periods, texts, and cultures for their inherent merits, whilst shepherding incisive conversations about pressing societal issues.
The Faculty of Arts cutting edge research projects mirror this academic diversity, from text-to-pictogram computer translation to iconological research at the crossroads of religion, art, history and anthropology.
Various projects at the Faculty of Arts are carried out in close collaboration with non-academic partners; researchers in interpreting studies, for instance, have set up long-term partnerships with hospitals and courts, whilst historians coach members of the public to involve them in the analysis of medieval manuscripts.
The Faculty in numbers
The Arts Faculty has a staff of 164 professors and many more researchers. Among the Faculty’s 4,245 students, there are currently 882 international students.
The Faculty offers five Master’s programmes, two advanced Master’s programmes and two post-academic programmes, all taught in English. There are study exchange programmes with more than 210 institutions in 43 countries.
Unique programmes
The Faculty offers a number of unique master programmes (such as Western Literature and Cultural Studies) and advanced master programmes (Advanced Studies in Linguistics, Digital Humanities and Estudios Ibéricos e Iberoamericanos), as well as post-academic education (Korean Studies and Specialised Translation).
International Programmes at the KU Leuven Faculty of Arts:
Master’s Programmes
· Cultural Studies
· European Studies: Transnational and Global Perspectives
· History
· Langue et littérature françaises
· Linguistics and Literature: English
· Western Literature
Advanced Master’s Programmes
· Advanced Studies in Linguistics
· Digital Humanities
· Estudios Ibéricos e Iberoamericanos
Post-Academic Education
· Korean Studies
· Specialised Translation (taught in Antwerp)
Career opportunities for graduates
After their studies, graduates from the arts programmes have a wide range of sectors and industries to choose from. As experts in languages, cultures, history and communication, they can find employment almost anywhere.
Recent research indicates that about 50% of graduates are recruited by the private sector while the other half work as teachers, researchers, communication experts and in many similar roles.
Internationally renowned research projects
The Alamire Foundation was founded in 1991 as a co-operative association between the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Musicology Research Unit) and the not for profit organisation, Musica (Impulse Centre for Music). Its mission is to undertake, stimulate, and co-ordinate innovative research on music and musical life in the Low Countries from the early Middle Ages until 1800. It uses state of the art methods, including digital preservation. The Foundation’s research results appear as monographs, critical editions, facsimile publications, and articles in leading journals.
Illuminare is a research and documentation centre located in the KU Leuven University Library. The focus on medieval and early modern art from the Low Countries approached from a European perspective is driven by both research and doctoral projects that are supported by an international network of universities, institutions, and museums.
Illuminare equally endorses several international peer-reviewed series. The centre moreover conserves and catalogues illuminated manuscripts and carries out art technical research. It examines, through an interdisciplinary approach, the iconology of medieval art. Illuminare holds several research archives of renowned art historians, and organises national and international exhibitions.
The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project is coordinated at KU Leuven. The project is internationally acknowledged for its comprehensive research strategies. The long-term history of the town and its associated territory, the urban and rural communities and the choices they made in life and death, within a changing ecological framework, provide many topics of truly interdisciplinary research. The results are embedded in encompassing conservation, restoration and presentation policies engaging the general public. Further social relevance is created by advancing regional and community development programmes.
Put simply, Sagalassos is one of those sites worth sharing and preserving for posterity. Its world-class heritage of centuries past should be managed for centuries to come. State of the art conservation of objects to edifices is combined with the restoration of carefully selected monuments, set within the natural beauty of the landscape and the authenticity of ruined parts of the town. The scholarly community, the general public and local society closely work together in order to preserve timeless and universal values of humanity.
Erik De Dijn
KU Leuven Faculty Of Arts
