Let’s meet the leader of workpackage 2, the focus of this newsletter: KU Leuven (Belgium)

 

KU Leuven is a full university conducting research and teaching in practically all scientific disciplines. With over 40,000 students, of which around 7,000 from other countries, it is the largest university in Belgium. Founded in 1425, KU Leuven is one of the oldest universities in Europe. It is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities and the Coimbra group.

In addition to the degree programmes offered in Dutch, KU Leuven currently organizes over 75 degree programmes in English, two in French, and one in Spanish. From the very start KU Leuven has participated in the Erasmus programme and today it is also involved in eight Erasmus Mundus programmes.

KU Leuven actively participates in all contents- and management-related workpackages of the IEREST project. It is also the leading institute of WP2: Review of target groups’ needs. The principal contributors in KU Leuven to IEREST are:

Let’s get to know the people from KU Leuven who have been working on IEREST.

 

Lut Baten

Member of the Quality Board of IEREST. Currently emeritus, she was a full professor at Leuven Language Institute responsible for courses of Business English, Dutch for Academic Purposes, and foreign and second language teaching methodology. She obtained a PhD degree at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and lectured at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and at the Mercator University (Duisburg, Germany). She has widely published on ESP, intercultural competence, and CALL and has developed several language softwares. She has been project leader and consultant of capacity building projects in South Africa, Cuba and Congo for the Flemish Interuniversity Council. Before IEREST she was an active partner in the WebCEF and CEFcult projects under the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.

 

 

 

Roger Janssens

Administration contact person for IEREST. After studying Germanic Philology at the KU Leuven, he earned an MA in English literature from the University of Hull (UK). Since the early 1990s he has been involved with Erasmus and other exchange students at the Faculty of Arts of the KU Leuven, where he moved on to become the Executive Director of its International Mobility and Cooperation Office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan Van Maele 

Member of the Steering Committee of IEREST. After majoring in English at the KU Leuven, he obtained a MSc in TESOL from Central Connecticut State University and a PhD in the domain of language testing from the Université Catholique de Louvain. Today he is a professor of language and communication at the Faculty of Engineering Technology (campus Group T), where he has been teaching and researching intercultural communication in professional and academic mobility contexts. He is also an affiliated researcher at Leuven Language Institute and was an active partner in the WebCEF and CEFcult projects under the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.

 

Basil Vassilicos

Senior researcher for IEREST.  After studying English literature and philosophy at Pennsylvania State University, he earned an M.A. and a PhD in philosophy at the KU Leuven, concentrating on phenomenology and the history of philosophy.  Currently, he teaches courses on intercultural communication and philosophy at the Faculty of Engineering Technology (campus Group T) while also conducting research on culture, ethics, and communication.