It split up from the primarily French-speaking Saint-Louis University, Brussels to become an independent Dutch-speaking institution.
It only ever awarded basic undergraduate degrees, which in the older Belgian system of a four-year licenciate meant students had to go on to other universities to complete their courses of study.
In the late 1990s, as a result of politically fuelled doubts about the university's survival, student levels fell drastically, with a knock-on effect on government funding.
In 2013, the academic degrees of the KUB were integrated in the Catholic University of Leuven.
This Belgian university, college or other education institution article is a stub.