ET IN ACADEMIA EGO? Flemish university colleges and

academic heritage

Interuniversity Platform for Academic Heritage:

Simon Leenknegt, Danny Segers, Isabel Rotthier, Trudi Noordermeer, Frank Scheelings,

Geert Vanpaemel

Project on academic heritage in Flanders

• Project ‘Balans en perspectief’ conducted in

2011-2012 / 2013-2014

• By Interuniversity Platform for Academic Heritage

• Funded by Flemish government

• Screening of universities and

• university colleges (‘hogescholen’)

• Collections described according to standards

Why Screen University Colleges?

• University colleges (‘hogescholen’) themselves

showed interest in participating

• Opportunity to find out more about lesser known

(educational?) collections

• These collections show resemblances with university

collections

Hogescholen (University Colleges)

• Offer professional Bachelor programmes

• Offer some academic Bachelor-Master programmes

(design sciences, industrial engineering, etc.)

• Last 15 years: growing demand for research

→ Process of ‘academisation’ and integration into

universities

Hogescholen (University Colleges)

• ≠ Hochschule (Germany); ≠ hogeschool

(Netherlands); ≠ university college (UK)

• 17 university colleges in Flanders

• All affiliated with one of 5 Flemish universities in a

university association

Screening of University Colleges

40 collections described, in 6 university colleges:

- Artesis Plantijn University College

- University College Ghent

- LUCA School of Arts

- Karel de Grote University College

- Antwerp Maritime Academy

- Erasmus University College

Which collections?

Academies of music and fine arts

Which functions?

Original function Current function

34 for educational purposes

15 for educational purposes

6 for exhibition 14 for exhibition

0 for research 1 for research

3 had different functions 18 (partly) inactive

85 % originally educational function

→ University colleges and predecessors were mainly

educational insitutions

1 collection for research

Possible explanation:

→ Most collections date back to 20th and 19th century

→ Research has become more important in 21st

century

→ e.g. academisation and integration into universities

45 % now (partly) inactive

Possible explanation:

→ Vocational training needs up-to-date material

→ Care for old materials is not a task

→ Removals caused by institutional changes

→ E.g. merging of more than 200 institutions into 17

At times a complex institutional history, e.g.:

19th century: Ecole Professionelle de Brasserie de la Société des Brasseurs Belges

Institut Supérieur et Ecole Professionelle de Brasserie

Institut Supérieur des Fermentations de Gand

Hogeschool voor Gistingsbedrijven Rijkshoger Scheikundig Instituut

Hoger Rijksinstituut voor Chemie en Voedingsindustrieën

Hoger Rijksinstituut voor

Landbouwindustrieën

Hoger Rijksinstituut voor Textiel en Kunststoffen

Industriële Hogeschool van het Rijk

+

+ 12 other institutions

+ +

Industriële Hogeschool van het

Gemeenschaps-onderwijs = University College

Ghent (1995)

21st century: Brewery studies partly integrated

into Ghent University