Vrije Universiteit
The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, not to be confused with the University of Amsterdam. It's name is often abbrevated as VU. It is the university of the Vereniging voor Christelijk Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs (Association for Christian Scientific Education).The association was founded in 1880, and headed by Abraham Kuyper, as the first protestant university. Vrije Universiteit literally means Free University to signify freedom from government and church. The education itself however, is not free of cost; like all accredited universities in The Netherlands students pay a (government determined) fee, while students receive a student loan from government as well.
About 16,000 students attend the university, with 2,200 scientific employees, and 1,600 non-scientific employees.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, of Computer Networks (the book) fame, is head of the faculty of Exact Sciences.