The student hat was worn in 1840s to show that you belonged to the student union, and 1862 it became a symbol of having completed your upper secondary school. The first time it’s used in an official context was in Copenhagen in 1845, where the Uppsala students decided to wear the cap as a way of identifying themselves
In various European countries, student hat, danish student cap, of different types are, or have been, worn either as a marker of a common identity, as is the case in the Nordic countries, or to identify the wearer as a member of a smaller body within the larger group of students, as is the case with the caps worn by members of German Studenten ver bindungen.
The calotte originates from the skullcap worn by the Zouave papal regiment around 1860. The calotte is cylindrical, made from velvet and astrakhan (pelt of newborn lamb. The top color is Bordeau red for the universities of Brussels, Leuven, Louvain-la-Neuve and Namur, white for the University of Ghent and emerald for the University of Liège.
In the front of the calotte are stripes representing the Belgian flag (black, yellow and red) and stripes representing the colors of the city or the university where the calotte has been received. At the back of the calotte, the faculty of the student is represented by a color and a symbol, with if needed an additional symbol to determine the speciality. Golden stars around the calotte represent the number of years that the student has studied successfully (if a year has to be retaken, a silver star will represent it). In addition to that, a number of official and personal pins will be added to the calotte, all representing something about its owner examples include.