Vlerick Business School


Vlerick Business School is a private Belgian business school with campuses in Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. It is a result of a merger of the MBA programmes of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and of the Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Management of Ghent University, in 1999. It is a higher education institute recognized and subsidized by decree.

History

In 1953, professor, politician and entrepreneur André Vlerick founded the Centre for Productivity Studies and Research at State University of Ghent, which in 1983 becomes an autonomous school called the Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Management.
In 1968, the Catholic University of Leuven created an international MBA programme, later organised by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
In 1999, both universities merge their MBA programme, creating a new institution named Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School and established in Leuven and Ghent. In parallel, the UGent and KU Leuven continue to offer graduate courses in management and business administration in their faculties of Management and Business administration.
In 2006, Vlerick opened its campus in Saint Petersburg, and in 2013 its Brussels campus, in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode.
In 2012, Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School changes its name and becomes the Vlerick Business School.
Vlerick presents itself as being the oldest business school in Europe,, though in 2018, it is legally speaking the most recent one founded in Belgium.

Building

The building of its Ghent campus since 2007 was built in 1905 by Mgr Antoon Stillemans, as the major seminary of the Ghent diocese. The dioceses then sold the building to the province.

Organisation

Vlerick has four campuses in Belgium: Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Ghent and Leuven. The campuses are made up of an independent building or, in Brussels, classrooms located on a building floor. Other campuses abroad have been opened for limited periods of time: a campus in Saint Petersburg opened in 2013 and closed again in 2019. Vlerick also has a cooperative program with BiMBA of Peking University's China Center for Economic Research in Beijing.
Vlerick offers MBA & Masters in Management, as well as general and specialized courses for managers, and custom-designed training for individual companies. Over 23,000 alumni in more than 100 different countries are alumni of the management schools. In 2015, Vlerick MBA Program was ranked top 100 MBA Programs and Top 10 MBA Program in Entrepreneurship worldwide by Financial Times.,

Accreditation

Vlerick Business School holds three international accreditations: the American AACSB, the British AMBA, and the European EQUIS.,
Vlerick is a higher education institute which is recognized and subsidized by decree.

Ranking

Vlerick ranks high amongst international and European business schools: