Ghent will also provide the scientific staff required on the campus, with onethird coming from Korea itself and the rest from elsewhere in the world, while South Korea will carry out all construction and infrastructure work. “This gives our institution an international face,” rector Paul Van Cauwenberge said.

Elsewhere, Van Cauwenberge announced that Ghent university is very nearly bursting at the seams. This year, some 6,200 new students enrolled, with the result that lecture theatres are filled to capacity, and there is hardly a futon to be found for accommodation in the city. The total number of students is now 33,500. “I think our student numbers could go up a little bit more,” he said. “By about two or three thousand, not more. Luckily we can stretch out to the edges of the city.”

Ghent University has separate campuses on the edge of the city specialising in science, agriculture and veterinary science. “We used to be a Ghent university, today we’re a Flemish university with an international aspect. Tomorrow we’ll be standing side by side with the best of them,” he said.