Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is a small, walkable city with a population of approximately 146,000 in the central district, and over 1 million in the greater Brussels area. Brussels is a city of fine food, café culture, and architectural gems from the medieval to the modern age. It is home to numerous museums of art, history and science, as well as quirkier finds like the Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate and the Centre for Comic Strip Arts. Brussels is a multicultural city that has two official languages—French and Dutch—and is the headquarters of both NATO and the European Union.
There are several universities in Brussels. Except for the Royal Military Academy, a federal military college established in 1834, all universities in Brussels are private and autonomous. The Royal Military Academy also the only Belgian university organized on the boarding school model.
The Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university, with about 20,000 students, has three campuses in the city and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), its Dutch-speaking sister university, has about 10,000 students.