600 years of KU Leuven: women celebrate too / female students

Discover how female students in Leuven have been breaking boundaries, inspiring others and changing the world for over a century.  
We take an in-depth look at the history of women at the university. Although the university was founded in 1425, it was not until the 1920–1921 academic year that the first female students were officially admitted.
 Today, female students have fully caught up with male students in absolute numbers.

What does it mean to break boundaries? To be the first to open a door that everyone thought should remain closed? This special guided tour of Leuven tells the story of the women who helped shape the history of KU Leuven and far beyond.

From the first female students, who cautiously claimed their place in 1920 at a university that had been a male stronghold for almost five centuries, to today’s internationally renowned scientists, doctors, writers, entrepreneurs and policymakers. 

The tour shows how Leuven is not only a university city, but also a city of stories: of student rooms and colleges, scientific breakthroughs, social progress and people who changed the world.

Today, just as many women as men graduate from KU Leuven, but the road to equality was long and often challenging. This tour brings that story of change to life in a vivid and inspiring way. 

Key stops: Oude Markt, Hertogen site, Sint Geertrui College, BacArt Lab (Vital Decosterstraat), Courthouse