Vlerick Business School

Vlerick Business School ("Vlerick") is a Belgian business school with campuses in Ghent, Leuven, and Brussels. It is a result of a merger of MBA programmes of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and of the Instituut Professor Vlerick voor Management of Ghent University, in 1999 (which, however, have both started offering MBA programmes again since). 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 became 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, the universities merged their MBA programmes, 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, including MBA programmes, 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 changed 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.