Een universiteit voor Antwerpen. Van aspiratie naar proeftuin voor Belgisch onderwijsbeleid (1954-1971)

Throughout Belgium’s first century of existence, there have been repeated calls to establish a university in the city of Antwerp. It took until the late 1950s to gain the necessary support for this cause. In the process, different views on the concrete realization of this project emerged. Because of the many voices within this debate, which also broadened to a national scale, more rational formulas had to make way for a compromising solution. Instead of creating one university, three incomplete university institutions were established between 1965 and 1971: RUCA (a state institution), UFSIA (a catholic, private institution), and UIA (a pluralistic foundation). Belgian policymakers considered the cooperation between these differing institutions a unique experiment which had the potential to end the rigid pilarization of the Belgian academic landscape.