The predecessor of the University of Amsterdam, the Athenaeum Illustre, was founded in Amsterdam in 1632 to educate students in Trade and Philosophy. Lessons were generally given at the professors' homes, as the establishment was not yet a proper university. 

The Athenaeum remained a small institution until the nineteenth century, with no more than 250 students and eight teachers. The situation changed in 1877 when the Athenaeum Illustre became the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and was permitted to confer the highest educational degrees.

Years of rapid growth lay ahead. There were 900 students at the University of Amsterdam by 1900. This figure had risen to 2,500 by 1935, and to 7,500 by 1960. More fields of study and research were introduced and new university departments established. 

Currently, there are more than 30,000 students at the University of Amsterdam and 5,000 staff. The University has seven faculties spanning the humanities, the social and behavioural sciences, economics and business, law, the natural sciences, medicine and dentistry.