The University Foundation was founded in 1920 at the initiative of Herbert Hoover and Emile Francqui. From the start, its chief purpose has been to provide a setting in which scholars from all Belgian Universities could meet, irrespective of their ideological affiliation or mother tongue.
In 2001, true to this spirit but mindful of the deeply altered context of European higher education, the University Foundation invited Philippe Van Parijs (Chaire Hoover d'éthique économique et sociale, UCLouvain, and laureate of the 2001 Francqui Prize) to organize an annual "Ethical Forum".
Each edition of the Ethical Forum is devoted to one of the unprecedented ethical challenges - in a broad sense - which academics of diverse fields now face, whether individually or collectively, whether as researchers, teachers or supervisors, as authors of books and articles or users of libraries and data banks, as recruiters, managers or employees, as business consultants, policy advisers or participants in public controversies.
What place (if any) for academics in our post-truth era?
Ethical Forum N°16, December 7, 2017
Personal synthesis
Is Academia a place for women? The strenuous road from Ph. D. student to rector
Ethical Forum N°15, December 8, 2016
Too many students? On the purpose, legitimacy and adequacy of university entry and orientation tests
Ethical Forum N°14, November 12, 2015
Personal synthesis and reflections 
Will universities survive the e-learning revolution? And how?
Ethical Forum N°13, 20 November 2014
Selective synthesis and personal conclusions
The academic’s burden. University professors under perverse pressure?
Ethical forum n°12, 11 November 2013
Scientific Fraud: How it is done, why it is done, and what can be done about it
Ethical forum n°11, 29 November 2012
Who Should Pay for Tomorrow's Higher Education?
Ethical forum n°10, 17 November 2011
The University as a business: disaster or necessity?
Ethical forum n°9, 18 November 2010
The University in the age of Google and Wikipedia. New potentials, new threats, new duties?
Ethical forum n°8, 19 November 2009
University Rankings. From curse to blessing?
Ethical forum n°7, 20 November 2008
Conclusions: European Higher Education under the Spell of University Rankings
Is it wrong to teach what is right and wrong?
Is it (still) part of a university's job to teach its students moral standars and social responsibility?
Ethical forum n°6, 29 November 2007
Conclusions: Is moral education the universities' business ?
The end of free entry?
Can university admission tests and numerus clausus provisions make higher education more cost-efficient and more socially responsible?
Ethical forum n°5, 23 November 2006
Conclusions: The end of free entry?
Cash for knowledge?
Ethical Implications of Patenting Academic Research
Ethical forum n°4, 22 November 2005
Proceedings: The Ethical Implications of Patenting Academic Research
Free to speak out?
On the rights and responsibilities of academics in the public debate
Ethical forum n°3, 25 November 2004
Conclusions: On the rights and responsibilities of academics in the public debate
Go English?
What language for higher education in 21st century Europe?
Ethical forum n°2, 16 October 2003
Interviews:
Dans quelle mesure l'anglais doit-elle devenir la langue de l'enseignement supérieur en Europe ?
Engels is nodig, willen we snelle neergang van onderzoek en onderwijs vermijden
Free Access to Truth
Scientific publication in the Internet Era
Ethical forum n°1, 21 October 2002
Conclusions: Les enjeux éthiques de la publication électronique