It formed as the Vereniging van Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten in 1985, as a successor to the Academische Raad [nl] (est.
[4] It represents university education and research in the Cabinet of the Netherlands, the House of Representatives, and the European Union,[5] and in price negotiations with academic publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, and the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK).
[4] The institutions that are important for university policy, however, are often headquartered in The Hague.
To optimize the interests of the universities towards these institutions, the UNL moved to The Hague in March 2005.
[3] Almost every country in the world has a university association that brings together common interests.