The founder was Nicolaus Ruterius, Bishop of Arras, a native of the Duchy of Luxembourg who had been chancellor of the university and provost of St. Peter's Church, Leuven.

[2] Ruterius in 1505 bought a patrician house with a large garden to serve as the college and endowed the foundation with annuities and real estate.

[2] Work began on the college in 1508, a year before the founder's death, and was directed by the builder Arnold de Wreede.

[2] The university began to admit women to study for degrees in 1920, and in 1921 the property that had been Arras College was acquired by the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary to set up a hall of residence for female students, which lasted until 1977.

[2] Since 1979 the property has housed a number of advisory and support services of the KU Leuven, and since the 1980s also the Ferdinand Verbiest Foundation and the China-Europe Institute for cultural and scholarly co-operation.