[7] The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU).

Students of the Colegium Chirugicum and the theological institutions regularly attended classes at the Athenaeum Illustre.

In 1815 it was given the statutory obligation “to disseminate taste, civilisation and learning" and “to replace, at least in part, the institutes of higher education and an academic education for those young men whose circumstances unable them to fully spend the time necessary for an academic career at an institute of higher education.” The Athenaeum began offering classes for students attending non-academic professional training in pharmacy and surgery in 1800.

During its time as a municipal university, the university flourished, in particular in the science department, which counted many Nobel prize winners: Tobias Asser, Christiaan Eijkman, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Pieter Zeeman, and Frits Zernike.

The University of Amsterdam's municipal status brought about the relatively early addition of the faculties of Economics and Social Sciences.

The following day a group of protesters forced the door of the Maagdenhuis, the main administrative building of the UvA, and began occupying it, once again raising their demands.

This an adaptation of the coat of arms of Amsterdam which also uses a black background and three white or silver Saint Andrew's Crosses.

Because UvA is not a separate, secluded campus, students and city residents readily mix, allowing Amsterdam to maintain close cultural and academic ties to the school.

The majority of UvA's buildings lie in the heart of Amsterdam, with only the faculties of Science, Medicine and Dentistry located outside the City Centre.

[21] The administration of the school and most of the faculties are located in the historic City Centre of Amsterdam, within the canal ring which is itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Agnietenkapel, Maagdenhuis, Oost-Indisch Huis, Bushuis, and Oudemanhuispoort are designated as Rijksmonumenten (national monuments).

The 15th century Agnietenkapel, where the university was founded was first constructed as a monastery chapel around 1470, but was later converted for use by the Athenaeum Illustre in 1631.

This 70-hectare (170-acre) campus contains UvA's science facilities, research institutes, student housing, the University Sports Centre, and businesses.

The Faculty of Science (Dutch: Faculteit der Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Informatica) (FNWI) covers a wide area of research and education.

The Faculty of Science has around 6,800 students, as well as 1,700 members of staff working in education, research or support services.

[9] The Faculty of Economics and Business (Dutch: Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfskunde) (FEB) was established in 1922.

[9] The Faculty of Law (Dutch: Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid) (FdR) is based in the newly redesigned Roetersiland campus.

In 2015, a bequest from Trudie Vervoort-Jaarsma to the university established the Julia Henriëtte Jaarsma-Adolfs scholarship fund for assisting students pursuing an LLM in the law faculty.

The bequest of €4 million was the largest single donation left to a Dutch university by a private citizen and was made to honor her mother's legal career.

ACTA is one of the largest dentistry education and training programmes in the world, with 500 staff members, an annual new-student enrolment of 128 and a total student body of 1000.

[9][29] In 1992, the board of governors of the University of Amsterdam set up the UvA Holding BV in order to bring its commercial activities into a form that is compatible with private law.

The subsidiaries are clustered into four activity areas which are increasingly outsourced to commercial enterprises and other market participants.

UvA has an extensive network of foreign partner universities, facilitating student and staff exchanges.

Dutch students must complete a six-year preparatory program to gain admission to national research universities.

Dortmond Museum of Script which has exhibits showing the history of writing in the West from 3000 BCE to today; the UvA Computer Museum which houses displays showing how computers of the past worked and how calculations were made before the presence of the electronic computer; the Zoological Museum Amsterdam at the Amsterdam Artis Zoo contains collection of millions of shells, insects, mammals, birds, fishes and other animals used in scientific research.

The CREA Cultural Center organizes courses, working groups and projects in drama, music, dance, photography, film, and visual arts.

[63] In the area of the arts, notable alumni include cultural analyst Ien Ang,[64] Leiden University's first female professor Sophia Antoniadis,[65] writers Menno ter Braak, Willem Frederik Hermans,[66] J. Slauerhoff, and Simon Vestdijk,[67] Emmy award-winning producer Michael W. King,[68] actor Jeff Wilbusch, art historian Charlotte Rulkens and Roman law specialist Boudewijn Sirks.

[69] In the media area, alumni include Thomas von der Dunk, Dutch cultural historian, writer, and columnist.

[86] Alumni in the science area include winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1929 Christiaan Eijkman,[87] inventor of DNA fingerprinting Alec Jeffreys,[88] physician and one of the founding fathers of gynecology in the Netherlands M.A.

Mendes de Leon,[89] astrophysicist and Dutch communist Anton Pannekoek,[90] string theorist Erik Verlinde,[91] Dutch psychiatrist and World War II resistance hero Tina Strobos,[92] ESA astronaut André Kuipers, Dutch botanist Hendrik de Wit, nutrition education pioneer in Israel Sarah Bavly,[93] Turkish-American high performance computing and supercomputing research scientist Ilkay Altintas,[94] malariologist Arjen Dondorp[95] Menno Sluijter, anaesthetist who developed pulsed radiofrequency pain treatment[96] and Alida Edelman-Vlam Dutch social geographer.