[6] In its over 500-year history, the university has been home to Erasmus of Rotterdam, Paracelsus, Daniel Bernoulli, Leonhard Euler, Jacob Burckhardt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Tadeusz Reichstein, Karl Jaspers, Carl Gustav Jung, Karl Barth, and Jeanne Hersch.

[9] The same year Pope Eugen IV attempted to move the council to Ferrara, but many involved in Basel stayed and kept negotiating and in 1439 the council elected a counterpope in the figure of the Duke of Savoy Amadeus VIII who would become known as Felix V.[9] Felix V then established a formal "University of the Clergy" (German:Kurienuniversität) which was inaugurated in November 1440 with a mass in the Barfüsser Church [de].

[9] In 1448, the German King Frederick III came to an agreement with Pope Nicholas V, the successor of Eugen IV and ordered the city to remove the security of the councilors.

[8] The deed of foundation given in the form of a Papal bull by Pope Pius II on 12 November 1459 in Mantua and the official opening ceremony was held on 4 April 1460, the day of Saint Ambrose in the Minster of Basel.

In the eighteenth century as Basel became more commercial, the university, one of the centres of learning in the Renaissance, slipped into insignificance.

The city, Basel-Stadt, had to buy back this share and the university became so impoverished that it drastically reduced its course offerings.

[13] Student enrollment surged after the university shed its medieval curriculum (including the elimination of Latin as the official language of the course catalog in 1822) and began to add more faculties, especially those in the humanities and sciences.

Several Swiss scholars also returned, inter alia the Law Professor Arthur Baumgarten (1933), the Theologians Karl Barth (1935) and Fritz Lieb [de] (1937) and after World War II the Philosopher Karl Jaspers from Heidelberg University (1948), as well as the surgeon Rudolf Nissen (1952).

[19] Since 1460, the seal of the University showed a Virgin surrounded with sun rays standing a crescent moon as mentioned in the Revelation of John.

It consists of the President and her staff, a General Secretariat, an Administrative Directorate, the Communications and Marketing Office, and two respective Vice-Presidents for Research and Education.

[56] There are also a variety of organizations that cater to international students, such as local chapters of Toastmasters and AIESEC, and associations that perform community services (Beraber, for instance, provides remedial lessons to immigrant youth).

There is a foreign affairs association (Foraus), a Model United Nations team, and various choirs and orchestras.

The most recognizable are the "Studentenverbindungen," traditional student associations dating from the 19th century that organize social events, share common uniforms, and often focus on particular hobbies, such as sword fighting.

[60] The Studentische Körperschaft der Universität Basel (skuba) speaks on behalf of the students and represents their needs and interests.