The legislation on university colleges in Flanders in 1995 led to a merger under the wings of the newly formed Antwerp University College (Hogeschool Antwerpen) with the drama programme of the previous autonomous Studio Herman Teirlinck and the dance programme of the Higher Institute for Dance Education.

Van den Bogaert (1802–1851) worked out a plan to set up a music school in Antwerp.

Its classrooms were located in the center of Antwerp in a public property in the Kaasstraat near the Suikerrui.

When Peter Benoit was asked to become director in 1867, he made it a condition that it would be a complete Flemish music school.

In this way the Antwerp Conservatory became the first institution of higher education in Belgium with Dutch as the official language.