Formally, the project does not have project partners as defined by the Rules for Applicants and Receivers – general and specific part. Nonetheless, various modes of research cooperation with institutions in the Czech Republic and especially with international research partners have been established and will continue to be further developed as part of the project. Internationalization of research, a perfectly regular condition of research activities at CUFA, will be strengthened further by intensive research cooperation with the prestigious KU Leuven.
The Catholic University in Leuven (KU Leuven), founded in 1425, is the largest university in Belgium. It is a highly respected university which has reached the 82th place in the international QS ranking and belongs to top 50 universities in Europe. In the Arts and Humanities, it occupies the 60th place according to the world ranking. At the moment, KU Leuven caters for more than 51,00 students, out of which more than 12% are international students and come from more than 120 countries from all over the world. In terms of personnel, the university employs 5,300 members of academic staff, more than 2,700 members of administrative and technical support staff, and almost 8,200 members of medical staff.
KU Leuven consists of 14 faculties, 50 departments, and approximately 240 sub-departments. As a whole, it is divided into three subject groups: Humanities and Social Sciences; Science, Engineering, and Technology; and Biomedical Sciences. The university works with a yearly operational budget of 933,3 million EUR, while almost 427 million EUR is allocated to research. More than 145 million EUR (15,6%) comes from the private sector and contract research. According to participation in the new program HORIZON 2020, KU Leuven is, with projects worth 28 million EUR (as of June 2015), the 6th most successful university.
Given the focus of KU Leuven of the humanities and social sciences and also with respect to previous cooperation, KU Leuven has become CUFA’s strategic international partner for the KREAS project. As part of the project, even more intensive research cooperation will be developed.