Alain Verschoren, rector of the University of Antwerp for eight years between 2008 and 2016, passed away unexpectedly in Tenerife on Thursday night at the age of 66. “Without Alain, our university would not be where it is today,” responds current rector Herman Van Goethem. “His merits are enormous.”
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Emeritus professor Alain Verschoren succeeded Francis van Loon in 2008 as rector of Antwerp University. Eight years later, he himself passed the torch to current rector Herman Van Goethem.
Alain Verschoren went to school at the Royal Athenaeum in Antwerp and subsequently studied mathematics at the University of Antwerp (RUCA). There he subsequently expanded his academic career. With success, because in 2001 he became Rector of the RUCA. He also became the last rector, because in 2003 the RUCA joined forces with the UFSIA and the UIA: the unified University of Antwerp was a fact.
Verschoren had always been a strong supporter of the merger. “If I am not the last RUCA rector, then we have failed,” he said himself. Em. Prof. Francis Van Loon became the first rector of the University of Antwerp. Alain Verschoren became the first chairman of the board of directors, helping to outline the university’s growth plan. In 2008 he became rector himself, with two consecutive terms until 2016.
Huge contribution
“In the eyes of Alain, Antwerp deserved a large university, and he has personally contributed more than his part to it,” says rector Herman Van Goethem. “His merit cannot be underestimated. Under his rectorship, the number of students at UAntwerpen doubled, to 20,000. Alain put our university on the map, without a doubt. Today we count, in all areas. ”
Tenerife
Although his administrative duties took up a lot of time and energy, Verschoren continued to teach and made time to tutor math students at the University of Tenerife. Spain was one of Verschoren’s passions, as was James Joyce: the former rector of his masterpiece Ulysses collected versions in almost fifty different languages.
Alain Verschoren was 66 years old and is surviving a wife, two children and two grandchildren. He died unexpectedly, not from the effects of corona, in Tenerife.
Politics
Two years ago, after his academic career, he still aspired to a political mandate, but he was not elected to the provincial council from the pushers’ place on the sp.a list.
“I have always kept politics far outside the walls of the university. As I approach 65, I want to do something more useful to society. When the provincial sp.a chairman and deputy Inga Verhaert asked me if I was interested in being on the list, it didn’t take me ten seconds to answer in the affirmative ”, he said about it in an interview with Gazet van Antwerpen .
READ ALSO. Former UAntwerpen rector Alain Verschoren stands up for sp.a
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