Reconstruction and Growth: 1945-1964

During the occupation years, the Catholic University suffered heavy losses. Three professors and 11 students were killed after being arrested on suspicion of resistance activities; some 30 students and alumni fell due to other wartime violence. In addition, bombing and fighting razed two of the four university buildings to ashes; a third was badly damaged. Still, morale was not broken, and people worked enthusiastically to revive the university. The government lent a helping hand from 1948; confessional universities were also eligible for government subsidies. Soon two expensive faculties were opened: Medicine in 1951 and Mathematics and Physics in 1957, both under construction on the still relatively new Heyendaal estate. The university grew faster and faster, partly due to the expansion of the scholarship system. In 1950, the enrolment of the thousandth student was cause for celebration; by 1965, there were over six thousand students. The various faculties inhabited many buildings in and around the city centre. The composition of the professors' corps also changed: the laity outnumbered the priests, and the first women appeared, as did the first non-Catholics.