Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam[a] (abbreviated as VU Amsterdam or simply VU when in context)[6] is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The literal translation of the Dutch name Vrije Universiteit is "Free University". "Free" refers to independence of the university from both the State and the Dutch Reformed Church. Both within and outside the university, the institution is commonly referred to as "the VU". Although founded as a private institution, the VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970. The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern Buitenveldert neighbourhood of Amsterdam and adjacent to the modern Zuidas business district.
Not to be confused with University of Amsterdam or Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
As of October 2021, the VU had 29,796 registered students,[7] most of whom were full-time students. That year, the university had 2,263 faculty members and researchers, and 1,410 administrative, clerical and technical employees, based on FTE units. The university's annual endowment for 2014 was circa €480 million. About three quarters of this endowment is government funding; the remainder is made up of tuition fees, research grants, and private funding.[7]
The official university seal is entitled The Virgin in the Garden. Personally chosen by Abraham Kuyper, the Reformed-Protestant leader and founder of the university, it depicts a virgin living in freedom in a garden while pointing towards God, referring to the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th century. In 1990, the university adopted the mythical griffin as its common emblem.[8]
Organizational structure[edit]
The Vrije Universiteit is made up of several faculties, responsible for teaching and research, as well as a number of interdisciplinary research institutes. As of 2015, after a number of mergers, these faculties are: Behavioural and Movement Sciences; Dentistry; Earth and Life Sciences; School of Business and Economics; Humanities; Law; Sciences; Social Sciences; Theology; and the VUmc School of Medical Sciences.[17]
The Vrije Universiteit is formally a private institution, part of the VU-VUmc Foundation. The other main institution within this foundation is the VU University Medical Center, which has a separate management structure.
The university is governed by the Executive Board, consisting of a president, a vice-president and a rector. The Executive Board has general management responsibilities and appoints the deans and professors of the faculties. The Executive Board is accountable to a Supervisory Board, appointed by the members' assembly of the VU Association, a private organization which founded the university in 1880.
The university's Works Council, a body of elected representatives of faculty and staff, as well as the Student Council, have consultation and co-decision rights in some areas of university policy and management. The College of Deans, consisting of all faculty deans and chaired by the rector, acts as a coordinating and consulting body at the central level and is responsible for awarding doctoral degrees and honorary doctorates.
University rankings
151-200 (2022)
149 (2022–23)
68 (2022)
207 (2024)
121 (2023)
82 (2022–23)
Like teaching, research at VU is organized mostly along the lines of the ten faculties and their departments. University-wide, four interdisciplinary themes have been determined as the principal focus areas of research:
In addition to faculty research centres and programmes, the university houses several interdisciplinary research institutes.[33] For example, the Amsterdam Institute of Molecules, Medicines and Systems, founded in 2010, consists of 17 research groups in pharmaceutical sciences, life sciences, computational life sciences and molecular sciences at VU. AIMMS focusses on three programs: molecular mechanisms of biological processes, design and characterization of molecules and medicines, and Biomarkers and diagnostics. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam School of Business and Economics is also part of the Tinbergen Institute (together with Erasmus University and University of Amsterdam) for economics and finance subject research and training.
Of the nearly 3,000 academic staff (2,257 in fte) employed at VU in 2012, 42% were female. Almost 80% were of Dutch origin, while about 15% had other European nationalities. The remaining 5% came from Asia, North America, Africa, South America and Oceania.[34] Within the body of academic staff, 29% were PhD candidates employed as junior researchers. In 2012, about 300 PhD dissertations were defended at VU.[35]
In 2012, the European Research Council awarded two starting grants and six advanced grants to VU researchers. In addition, 11 VENI and two VICI grants were awarded within the prestigious Innovational Research Incentives Scheme by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.[36]
In 2013, Professor Piek Vossen (Computational Lexicology) was one of three scholars awarded with the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands.[37]
The University Library holds a relatively large collection of more than 1,000,000 printed items.[38] The library occupies five floors in the university's Main Building, not including closed stacks, while the medical collection is housed at the VU University Medical Center. The library's special collections department holds 70,000 manuscripts and printed items in 26 collections. Important collections include reformation works, original English prints, pamphlets and portraits.[39]
University newspaper[edit]
The university's independent newspaper, Ad Valvas, has been in print since 1952. The newspaper formally acquired editorial independence in 1979. Ad Valvas appeared on a weekly basis until fall 2012, when it became as a biweekly magazine. The Ad Valvas magazine focuses primarily on background stories, interviews and op-ed articles, while daily campus news is mostly provided through the newspaper's website.[40]