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Data collection on student numbers
This activity of the University Foundation originated as a response to a need detected by Francqui. The economic crisis of 1930 caused substantial unemployment, which included university graduates. Francqui was convinced that the lack of statistical data made it very difficult to analyse rationally the problem of unemployment of undergraduates and to see in what way the problem could be solved. So he set up a special task force to investigate the problem. The task force proposed a number of measures. One consequence was that the Board of Directors set up a new department within the University Foundation to collect and publish data on university studies and the number of students. This department began its activities on October 15, 1936.
The first report of the department was published in May 1937 and contained data on the total number of university students, a detailed analysis of the new students and the foreign students, and the degrees awarded.
A yearly report was published by the department until 1942, when publication was stopped because the information contained in the report could be misused by the occupying authorities. In 1946 publication was resumed, with the report gradually containing additional information.
Recently responsibility for education has been transferred to the Flemish- and French-speaking Communities. The relevant Rector's conferences (VLIR and CRef), together with the corresponding Ministries, collect the data for their own parts of the country. The University Foundation uses the data collected by the two Communities to publish a statistical report covering the Federal Belgian State. This is no simple task because the organization of university education in the two Communities has been drifting apart. A comparison and synthesis of the Communities' data is contained in the yearly report of the University Foundation. This report is an interesting tool for national as well as for international purposes.
Further information can be found on the French and Dutch websites of the Foundation or can be obtained from Mrs. Hilde Garmyn, e-mail : fu.us@skynet.be, tel. : 02/545 04 20, fax 02/513 64 11.
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