Collaboration between the Ukrainian Catholic University and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven: Past and Present

Cooperation between the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven) started only recently. It was established, however, in a particular context, worth mentioning at the beginning of this short overview.

The documented history of the Ukrainian presence at K.U. Leuven can be traced back to the first decades of the twentieth century. Thanks to the establishment of closer links between the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium, a number of young Ukrainians were then granted the possibility to study at K.U. Leuven. Their presence was noteworthy, totalling about 30-50 students per each academic year. They studied both humanities and sciences . Although after the Second World War no new candidates came directly from Ukraine, the entire territory of which had been annexed to the Soviet Union by that time, Ukrainian immigrants and their children maintained the tradition of the Ukrainian presence at this University. By the middle 1980s, however, this tradition was slowly fading away. This situation changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the opening of the USSR borders, some individual Ukrainian students came to study for a longer or, more often, shorter period of time at K.U. Leuven.

A renewed tradition of a continuous Ukrainian presence at K.U. Leuven dates from 1999. Following an agreement between the Faculty of Theology, K.U. Leuven, and the Lviv Theological Academy ( LTA, the predecessor of UCU), first graduates of the latter arrived in Leuven. Ukrainian students were warmly received by the Faculty. With much zeal they studied the historical critical as well as other research methods, including the post-modern criticisms thereof. Even frequent and long lasting Belgian showers did not cool down the passion of the young scholars. Besides their studies they cherished Byzantine liturgical tradition, and developed social contacts with other students and professors.

Nowadays, the cooperation between K.U. Leuven and UCU is growing increasingly. Within less than a decade, five groups of the LTA/UCU alumni have already been doing their post-graduate studies at this Faculty. Furthermore, the two institutions have started an exchange of visits of the administrative stuff as well as an exchange of visiting professors. In addition, in May 2007 the Faculty of Theology, K.U. Leuven, together with the famous Belgian Benedictine monastery, le Monastere de l'Exaltation de la Sainte Croix of Chevetogne, hosted the first UCU alumni conference “Encounters Between the European East & West: A Theological Perspective.” These active ties between UCU and K.U. Leuven help to maintain and enhance the high quality of education and research at both institutions.