[2][6] The university is academically composed of nine schools, three special academic entities[7]—the Alberto Lleras Camargo School of Government, the Center for Research and Training in Education (Spanish: Centro de Investigación y Formación en Educación, CIFE), and the Interdisciplinary Center for Development Studies (Spanish: Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo, CIDER)—and a joint academic venture with the medical institution Santa Fe de Bogotá Foundation,[8] offering 31 undergraduate, 18 doctoral, and 38 graduate degree-granting programs[3] in areas of human knowledge such as medicine, engineering, science, law and others.

[10] In 1930, the Colombian presidential elections resulted in the appointment of Liberal party candidate Enrique Olaya Herrera to an office that had been, since 1880, under Conservative control.

Restructuring of higher education, in particular of the National University of Colombia in 1935, agrarian reform in 1936, and general promotion of industrialization resulted in rapid economic changes and growth.

[12] According to some estimates, around 50% of existing Colombian corporations in 1945 were founded between 1940 and 1945, promoting the accumulation of wealth and the creation of a new middle class with political interests and international aspirations.

[13]: 30 However, in order to continue industrial development, there was an urgent need for skilled labor, reflected in the speech given by the Colombian Minister of Education to the Congress of Colombia in 1946:[14] We have a lack of engineers, architects, physicians, dentists, agronomists, veterinarians, chemists and even lawyers (...) in sufficient quantities to attend to the country's needs, and the only solution lies in the enlargement of the universities... in the creation of a university for the country, that responds to what the country calls for.These words echo the suggestions made around 35 years earlier by liberal leader Rafael Uribe Uribe regarding the need for the modernization of the educational system.

[13]: 112  Important successes were attained by the Cultural Extension Section: the organization of academic conferences whose speakers included the likes of John von Neumann, Arnold J. Toynbee, Hideki Yukawa, Thornton Wilder, and others.

[13]: 115  Active recruitment of foreign professors from abroad and from other Colombian educational institutions, such as the National University, the Normal Superior School, and the Gimnasio Moderno, was also an important strategy for the administrative staff in the initial years of Uniandes.

[15]: 6–10  The Board of Directors is responsible for the management and administration of the university, through reviews and approvals of the PDI (Programa de Desarrollo Integral): a 5-year development program prepared by the office of the Rector.

[15]: 11  The latter is the university's legal representative, and it is responsible for implementing the PDI, setting the budgets, and appointing Departmental, Research Center, and Administrative Unit directors.

[3]: 128 According to a financial audit performed by Ernst & Young Colombia in 2020, the value of the university's assets totaled COL$1.74 trillion by the end of the year,[update][16] equating to US$426.1 million at the COP/USD exchange rate for 31 December 2020.

[16]: 4 The university's Statutes state:[15]: 2 Universidad de los Andes is an autonomous and independent institution that fosters pluralism, diversity, dialogue, debate, criticism, tolerance and respect for the ideas, beliefs, and values of its members.

It also seeks academic excellence, and imparts a critical and ethical formation to its students, in order to strengthen their awareness of their social and civic responsibilities, and their commitment to the analysis and solution of the problems of Colombia.

Uniandes started academic activities in terrains rented from the Community of the Good Shepherd, a religious institution, and would continue to do so for around five years before buying the first plots of land, with a size of approximately 0.025 square kilometers.

The university's campus is in Bogota's historical center, an area that houses most of the city's buildings of cultural interest, universities, banks, and large Colombian companies; the main offices of the national and local government; and a variety of cultural meeting places, such as libraries, museums, theatres, scientific and literary centers, and art galleries.