The campus of the university is situated by the Gulf of Bothnia adjacent to downtown Vaasa.
The lectures were first held in a yard building of Vaasa Commercial College in Raastuvankatu street, but in its second year the school moved into the whole house as the commercial college moved to a new building.
In 1992 the school was organised into four faculties; The Humanities, Business Administration, Accounting and Industrial Management, and Social Sciences.
The part of the university placed in the old mill is called "Fabriikki" (English: Factory).
It offers education possibilities on the following levels:[6] The strategic areas of research are management and change, energy and sustainable development and financing and economic decision making.
University of Vaasa has fours schools and three research platforms: Vaasa Energy Business Innovation Centre (VEBIC), Digital Economy and Innovation and Entrepreneurship InnoLab.