The People's University of Amsterdam, also known as ''Volks Universiteit Amsterdam'' or Folk University, is a course centre for adults in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. Volksuniversiteit Amsterdam was founded in 1913 and has multiple study centres in Amsterdam. Since 2016, the Volksuniversiteit Amsterdam has been working together with the Amsterdam Public Library (

Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam The Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (; OBA; English: Amsterdam Public Library) is an organisation of public libraries in Amsterdam, Diemen and Ouder-Amstel in the Netherlands. The first library opened in 1919 at the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. As ...

International analogues

The American

Chautauqua Institution The Chautauqua Institution ( ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit education center and summer resort for adults and youth located on in Chautauqua, New York, northwest of Jamestown, New York, Jamestown in the western southern tier of New York (state), N ...

, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded in 1874 "as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning. It was broadened almost immediately beyond courses for Sunday school teachers to include academic subjects, music, art, and physical education". In the Netherlands the Volksuniversiteit Amsterdam was founded in 1913 by the

Maatschappij tot Nut van't Algemeen The Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen (Nut for short; Society for Public Welfare) is a non-profit organization in the Netherlands founded in 1784 with the purpose of developing individuals and society, primarily through education. It had great ...

. Today there are about 61 Volksuniversities. In

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

they are called ''Volkshogeschool''. The Freie Deutsche Hochschule (Germany) was founded in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on November 19, 1935 as an exile institution. The teaching followed the ideological requirements of the popular front policy. The activities ended with the invasion of German troops in France in 1940. Since 1942, Scandinavia has had the

Folkuniversitetet The People's University of Amsterdam, also known as ''Volks Universiteit Amsterdam'' or Folk University, is a course centre for adults in Amsterdam. Volksuniversiteit Amsterdam was founded in 1913 and has multiple study centres in Amsterdam. Since ...

, and in 1959

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

founded the Ljudska Univerza Kocevje.Ljudska Univerza Kocevje in Kočevje, Slovenië
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References

External links

Volksuniversiteit Amsterdam
(official website)
Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam
(official website) {{authority control Universities in the Netherlands Schools in Amsterdam