Metadata: Cabinet of the rector. Dienst voor Academische aangelegenheden
Collection
- Country:
- Belgium
- Holding institution:
- UGent University archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Universiteitsarchief UGent
- Postal address:
- Oud rectoraat, verdieping -2, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 25, 9000 Gent
- Phone number:
- +32 (0)9 264 30 81
- Web address:
- http://www.ugent.be/nl/univgent/collecties/archief
- Email:
- archief@UGent.be
- Reference number:
- UGentA-Ghent-4A
- Title:
- Cabinet of the rector. Dienst voor Academische aangelegenheden
- Title (official language):
- Kabinet van de rector. Dienst voor Academische aangelegenheden
- Creator/accumulator:
- Universiteit Gent
- Date(s):
- 1817/1995
- Extent:
- 99 linear metres
- Scope and content:
-
Several series from this fonds are relevant for our guide. The different registers constitute a general source: enrolment registers for the years 1817-1961 (mentioning registration number, name and first name, age, place of birth, previous studies, chosen specialisation etc.), alphabetical registers of students, registers of students by specialisation, registers with results of exams etc.
Nr. 4A2_4 consists of the series of incoming and outgoing correspondence (dated 1817-1940), arranged by academic year and subdivided by topic. Topics such as “foreign students”, “student associations”, “incidents” etc. are often of interest for this guide. See for example (from 4A2_4) box 222, folder 323 and box 254, folder 323 (related to the Association des Étudiants Juifs de Gand, 1927 and 1936); box 207, folder 323(b) (concerning the statutes of the AEJG); box 239, folder 20(a) (related to Jewish professors exiled/banished from Germany, 1933).
In no. 4A2_5 we find the so-called “war files”, dated 1940-1951. Box 2 of these files contains i.a. a file consisting of correspondence and a large amount of forms in which the university staff declares not to be of Jewish descent (1940), a file with information on Jewish students (1941-1942) and (photocopies of) a notebook mentioning the books (some written by Jewish authors or related to Jewish themes) banished on the orders of the occupier to the “Giftschrank” (1940). Lastly, box 3 contains a file concerning “incidents teaching staff” (1940-1944), notably containing correspondence related to the Jewish academic J. Rappaport.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- The Rijksuniversiteit Gent (“National University Ghent”), one of the three public universities of the Southern Netherlands founded by Willem I, was established in 1816 and opened in 1817. Initially it had four faculties: literature and philosophy, law, science and medicine. Gradually, and especially from the 1960s, various colleges or university departments were transformed into the 11 faculties (and over 120 departments) currently part of UGent. S. Verhelst, the first female student, started in 1882; I. Van der Brach became the first female assistant professor (1919) and professor (1925). Resistance against the exclusively francophone character of the university started to surface in the late 19th century. During the First World War the institution was closed and replaced by the Vlaamse Hoogeschool (1915-1918), created by Von Bissing in the context of the German Flamenpolitik. Via the intermediary phase of the bilingual ‘Nolf system’, Dutch became the exclusive medium of instruction of the Rijksuniversiteit Gent in 1930. The university acquired legal personality after the war (law of 5 July 1920). In the interwar years the number of students of foreign nationality peaked – in 1924 almost 35% of the students came from abroad, primarily from Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. During the Second World War the university was again controlled by the occupier, who wished to remodel it to German standards. After the war the university continued to grow, driven by an ever increasing number of students and the associated need to provide adequate infrastructure. Its architectural heritage includes iconic buildings such as the university library with its modernist Boekentoren by Vande Velde, the University Hospital, the Blandijn and others. Geographically the UGent expanded notably to the suburbs (Sterre campus) and nearby municipalities (Merelbeke, Zwijnaarde). The 1960s and 1970s were not only years of expansion at every level, but also of contestation by the students, notably for democratisation and greater public participation (1969), and against the raised tuition fees (1978-1979). In 1991, the Rijksuniversiteit Gent was transformed into a public institution with legal personality and renamed to Universiteit Gent (Ghent University). In 2003 the UGent, Hogeschool Gent, Arteveldehogeschool and Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen founded the partnership vzw Associatie Universiteit Gent. Today, the UGent has over 38000 students and 7100 employees. (http://www.ugentmemorie.be; A.-M. Simon-van der Meersch & E. Langendries, 175 jaar Universiteit Gent – Ghent University, 1817-1992: een verhaal in beeld – a story in pictures, Gent, Universiteit Gent, 1992.)
- Access points: locations:
- Ghent
- Access points: persons/families:
- Rappaport, J
- Access, restrictions:
- Documents less than 50 years old containing personal information are not consultable.
- Finding aids:
-
4A. Inventaris van het kabinet van de rector. Dienst voor academische aangelegenheden., Gent, Universiteitsarchief Gent, 2009. [no author]
The fonds is also made accessible by means of a card index (by subject and family name). For a more detailed finding aid for the series of correspondence, see the lists 4A2_4 and 4A2_5.
- Yerusha Network member:
- State Archives of Belgium
