Radboud Universiteit | RU

About

The first Nijmegen University was founded in 1655 and terminated around 1680. The Radboud University Nijmegen was established in 1923 as the Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen (Catholic University of Nijmegen) and started out with 27 professors and 189 students. It was founded because the Roman Catholic community wanted its own university. At the time, Roman Catholics in the Netherlands were disadvantaged and occupied almost no higher posts in government. After fierce competition with the cities of Den Bosch, Tilburg, The Hague, and Maastricht, Nijmegen was chosen to house the university. The subsequent Second World War hit the university hard. Many prominent members were lost, among them professors Robert Regout [nl] and Titus Brandsma. They were deported to Dachau concentration camp. In 1943, rector Hermesdorf refused to cooperate with the Germans. On 22 February 1944, the university lost many buildings in a bombardment. Classes resumed in March 1945. Since then, student numbers rose steadily from 3,000 in 1960 to 15,000 in 1980. As of October 2018, the university is host to 22,142 students, of which 10,7% are international students, exchange students excluded.