Flanders is an autonomous region in the north of Belgium, with approximately 7 million inhabitants. Its capital is the city of Brussels. The official language of Flanders is Dutch. Flanders has its own parliament, government, and Minister-President. The Flemish government is responsible for education, research, innovation, agriculture, mobility, environment, language, and culture.
The Program for the Study of Flanders was established in 2023 with the support of the Flemish government at the occasion of the visit of Minister-President Jan Jambon to the UC Berkeley campus. It functions as a cooperation between the UC Berkeley Institute of European Studies and the UC Berkeley Dutch Studies Program. It supports a wide array of scholarly, cultural, professional and educational activities to encourage cooperation between Berkeley and Flanders, with the following objectives:
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Strengthen Berkeley’s academic, intellectual and institutional ties to Flanders;
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Support graduate and undergraduate teaching and research about topics relating to Flanders, both from a contemporary and a historical perspective;
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Support study abroad and internship programs for Berkeley students in Flanders;
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Support the book collections dealing with Flanders in UC Berkeley’s Main Library;
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Support interdisciplinary research that fosters the transatlantic connections between Flanders and the United States;
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Support the teaching of the Dutch language;
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Provide a platform for conferences, colloquia and public lectures in order to disseminate knowledge of and interest in Flanders in the United States.