BAEF

The Belgian American Educational Foundation or BAEF is an independent philanthropy. It supports the exchange of university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium. The foundation fosters the higher education of deserving Belgians and Americans through its exchange-fellowship program. Since 1977, Dr. Emile Boulpaep is the president of the BAEF.

History

During World War I, from October 1914, Herbert Hoover organized the Commission for Relief in Belgium. After the war, the University Foundation, and on 9 January 1920, the B.A.E.F., were founded with the budget remaining in the hands of the Commission after five years of relief work. The Belgian American Educational Foundation became the heir of the Commission for Relief in Belgium.

After World War I, the BAEF invested in land and buildings for the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Solbosch campus) and also for rebuilding the library of the University of Louvain-Leuven. In 1925, the BAEF founded the "Hoover Foundation for the Development of the University of Brussels" and the "Hoover Foundation for the Development of the University of Leuven". The BAEF started providing scholarships for students study abroad.

Notable alumni

* Emile Boulpaep
* Albert Claude
* Gaston Eyskens
* Mark Eyskens
* Corneille Heymans
* Jean Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers
* Pierre Wigny

ee also

* Herbert Hoover
* Emile Francqui
* Hoover Chair
* Academic mobility
* American Relief Administration (ARA)
* Paul Dana
* Fulbright Program (United States)
* ERASMUS programme (European Union)

External links

* [http://www.baef.be/ Belgian American Educational Foundation]
* [http://www.rememberinghoover.be/Legacy.htm Hoover's legacy in Belgium]