In 1892 and 1897, two schools were founded within the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Louvain: the School of Political and Social Sciences and the School of Commercial and Consular Sciences. These new schools attempt to meet the challenges of industrial, political and scientific revolutions and train those who will engage in the conduct of the economy and social life. It was for these same reasons that the École supérieure commerciale et consulaire was founded in 1896 in La Louvière. This independent institution moved to Mons in 1899, obtained university status and eventually merged with UCLouvain in 2011. Closely associated with each other, the two schools of UCLouvain will not stop reinventing and reorganizing themselves over time to keep pace with the changes in society and the development of the human and social sciences. They will be reorganized into different institutes, schools, faculties, departments, focused on both practical teaching and advanced research. The latter was notably materialized by the creation of the Institute of Economics, the future Institute of Economic and Social Research, in 1928. In 1908, the year of the transfer of Congo to the Belgian state, the School of Commercial and Consular Sciences started a degree in colonial sciences. After the First World War, it took on different names, including the École supérieure de commerce. In 1934, it was approved as a Higher Institute of Commerce by Royal Decree. In 1941, Rector Van Waeyenbergh entrusted Jacques Leclercq with its reorganization. The School of Economics is founded, with four institutes: in addition to IRES, we find the Institute of Economics, the Institute of Applied Economics, and the Institute of Actuarial Sciences. In 1950, the School of Political and Social Sciences and the School of Economics split from the Faculty of Law to become a fully-fledged faculty: the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. It becomes one of the largest faculties in terms of student numbers. In 1961, the Institute for Development Studies was created. In 1967, the faculty changed its name to the Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences. In 1975, when moving from Leuven to Louvain-la-Neuve, the faculty was reorganized into 9 departments. The ISEA became the Institute of Administration and Management, while communication, demography, European studies and labour sciences appear as departments. The faculty is further reorganized several times during the 1980s and 1990s, with notably the creation of a department of sociology. Within the framework of the Bologna Process, the French Community decree of 31 March 2004 leads to the creation of bachelor's degrees for the first cycle of higher education in 2004, and master's degrees for the second cycle in 2007. In 2008, the IAG becomes autonomous under the name of Louvain School of Management, which two years later become a fully separate faculty. In 2010, on the occasion of the internal reform of the UCLouvain, which separates teaching and research activities, the faculty became the Faculty of Economic, Social and Political Sciences and Communication. The faculty's researchers integrate different research institutes.
Hainaut
In 2011, following the merger between the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons and UCLouvain, the ESPO faculty became a 'multi-site', established in Louvain-la-Neuve, Mons and Charleroi.
Though strongly related, the Faculty of Economic, Social, Political and Communication Sciences of UCLouvain Saint-Louis Brussels, is a distinct and autonomous faculty founded in 1965, located on Saint-Louis University's main campus, in the center of Brussels.
Description
Organisation
The faculty hosts six schools, in addition to a structure of management for undergraduate programmes, and the FOPES open faculty:
The UCLouvain School of Communication organises the different degrees in information and communication studies, including two different master degrees in journalism; the first one being focused on research, and the second one being the Louvain School of Journalism degree, which is part academic and part practical. The Louvain School of Journalism also includes classes at the IAD film school in Louvain-la-Neuve. In addition to this, the Louvain School of Journalism offers a double Master degree in Press and Information and another double Master degree in Media Literacy with the IHECS Brussels School of Journalism in Brussels. The Louvain School of Journalism is associated with Media and Journalism Research Observatory, a research group within the UCLouvain School of Communication, and collaborates intensively with the Research Centre on Mediation and the Academy of Journalism and Media. The Louvain School of Journalism is the founding member of the arppej network, the International Research Alliance for Journalism Education and Practice.
Main awarded degrees
All are organised in Louvain-la-Neuve, except stated otherwise.
Specialised master in development, environment and societies
Specialised master in interdisciplinary analysis of European construction
Specialised master in international humanitarian aid
Specialised master in quantitative methods in the social sciences
Specialised master in risk and disaster management
The faculty offers master's degrees in evening classes within the Open Faculty of Economic and Social Policy, in Louvain-la-Neuve and on the UCLouvain Charleroi campus. The faculty also offers 21 university certificates.
