Het elan van een hoofdstedelijke universiteit: de Universiteit van Amsterdam

Abstract

The élan of the capital city's university: the University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam has long been a municipal institution, financed and administrated by the city of Amsterdam. This special status had advantages as well as disadvantages. The city intended its university to be a first-class institution and was at times prepared to go a long way to achieve this goal. Whenever its financial means were limited, however, severe budget cuts were imposed and it was left to the professors to finance their research and to find suitable accommodations. Yet whether its financial means were ample or scarce, the city council was very sensitive to reputations and to powerful lobbying, the more so since the university was not only a facility for students but also for the citizens of Amsterdam. The university's status was to strengthen the citizenry's self esteem; and its teaching was organised in such a way that it would have a civilising effect on the local population. When the university was established in 1877, several subjects were expressly included in the curriculum for the citizens' benefit or because they were deemed useful for a commercial town. At a later date, the same objective inspired the establishment of chairs in modern languages and commercial sciences. It is doubtful however whether such courses ever served their intended goals, for the professors were quick to underline the scientific nature of their subjects, which did not go well with their public obligations. Yet the students did not forget these. By staging contemporary plays and musical compositions, by their cabarets and other performances and by running a cinema that showed edifying films, they took an active part in the cultural uplifting of the citizenry. Major changes occurred after 1961, when the institutional ties between the university and the city were severed, yet the University of Amsterdam still tries to live up to its pretentious claim of being the biggest and the best in the Netherlands.