The university holds and actively pursues teaching, research, and community service as its primary objectives.

The university was founded in 1559 as the Academy of Geneva (Académie de Genève) by French theologian John Calvin, as a seminary administered by the Company of Pastors, to be the center of public education in Protestant Geneva.

[8] With the goal of educating not only pastors but also magistrates for the republic, in 1565 the academy began the teaching of Law.

[8] During the French annexation of Geneva (1798–1813), the school was reorganized into a more universal format, with the introduction of degrees and its division in faculties.

[9][10][11] The University of Geneva is located in several districts in the eastern part of the city and in the nearby city of Carouge (on the left bank of the Lake Léman and the Rhône), and the different buildings are sometimes very distant from each other (the Battelle buildings are for instance more than three kilometers away from the Bastions).

[17] The University of Geneva is structured in various faculties and interfaculty centers which are representing teaching, research and service to society in the various disciplines.

Its purpose is to ease communication inside the university, to inform the students about the research being carried at UNIGE, to convey new opinions and to inform students and teachers of upcoming university events via l'Agenda.

[37] Campus is released monthly with the objective to ease communication between the scientific community and the citizens and to be a "bridge between science and city".

A second chapter including city tours, outdoor concerts and animations is also organized by the student association UniAccueil (AUA) to celebrate the new academic year.

[46] The key sectors of research at the University of Geneva are sciences (molecular biology, bio-informatics, etc.

), elementary physics, astrophysics, economics, social sciences, psychology, chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics.

Free sports lessons are given every day and it suffices to show one's student card to access.

[64] UNIGE also provides special schedules for students wishing to pursue their high level sporting career and to study at the same time.

[65] Alumni UNIGE is the alumni association of the University of Geneva, it offers a network of several thousand people to its members, as well as other advantages, such as discount prizes, special events, access to the official networking platform.

[67] Over the course of its history, a sizeable number of UNIGE alumni have become notable in their fields, both academic, and in the wider world.

Graduate alumni (Martin Hairer and Vaughan Jones) have won 2 Fields Medals.