Alumni

Patrick Segers is a professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture: “I found it a tough and challenging year, like so many others."

Liessa Engels has been a counsellor at Ghent University for two years. She is there to help students and those who are choosing a course. Fortunately they are finding their way to the online alternatives that Liessa and her colleagues have established this year.

Jelle Van Goethem graduated in 2010 with a master degree in history from Ghent University. After an advanced master’s programme in business economics and teacher training programme, he spent seven years working as a teacher. Until this year, when he changed jobs. 2020 was also a milestone in his private life, being the year his first son was born.

20 people with links to Ghent University were selected at random. They tell us what 2020 meant to them, what they will carry over to next year and above all: what they hope for in 2021. Kurt Boelens graduated from Ghent University in business psychology in 1987.

Parastou grew up in Belgium after she fled Iran with her family at the age of five. She completed her university studies in England, where she also started working as a lawyer. After nine years in Liverpool, she returned to Belgium this year with her husband, as well as her cat and dog! In September she started the ManaMa International Business Law.

Céline Vaneeckhaute is an alumnus from Ghent University, and meanwhile professor of bioscience engineering at Laval University in the Canadian city of Quebec, where she has been living with her husband for years. She tells us what 2020 meant to them, what she will carry over to next year and above all: what she hopes for in 2021.

Nicolaas Lumen is a ‘product of Ghent University’ in every way. In 2002, he graduated in medicine, and these days he is a professor in urology. Nicolaas hopes to quickly return to a normal life in 2021, so that we can come and go as we please once more.

Three alumni look back on their education and the direction they followed. Even though they started on the same road, it ultimately led to other places. Benjamin Dalle, Yasmina El Kaddouri, and Gillis Ooghe all studied law at Ghent University. All three defend interests, albeit from a different angle.

Three alumni look back at their time in education and the road they eventually chose. In effect, even though they started on the same path, it took them to different places. Caroline Landsheere, Anja Goethals and Bas Bogaerts all studied archaeology. The passion for the past is still there, even though it doesn’t play as big a role as before for each of them.

A real gem, that's what the library of the Faculty of Architecture and Engineering is. Of course, it was also designed by two of the most promising architects in Belgium today: David Van Severen en Kersten Geers, two Ghent University alumni.