About VU University
Ever since it was founded in 1880, VU University Amsterdam has been known for its distinctive approach to knowledge. VU is an open organization, strongly linked to people and society. What matters is not just the acquisition of a greater depth of knowledge, but also a wider one. We ask and expect our students, researchers, PhD candidates and employees to look further – to look further than their own interests and their own field, and further than what is familiar and further than the here and now.

Mission
VU University Amsterdam is a remarkable university with Christian roots, one which is involved with people and society. It is an open and internationally oriented academic community. It is a university that seeks renewal and which succeeds in making good use of the strength of the variety of academic disciplines, nationalities, ideologies and social convictions that exist in its environment.
Through its research, VU seeks to make an important contribution to solving major social problems. Just as important is our task to train young people into critical academics who, motivated by their social involvement, will be able to occupy leading positions in the international and intercultural society of the future. This is why VU places a strong emphasis on the academic formation of students, with a focus on the core values of VU. Education and research are directly linked. VU educates students in the research fields in which its strengths lie, and for which there is a significant demand for well educated professionals.

Vision
Freedom in responsibility: three core values
Academic research and education at VU is characterized by a high level of ambition, and encourages free and open communications and ideas. VU stands for universal university values such as academic freedom and independence, which is reflected in our name (‘VU’ is the Dutch abbreviation for ‘free university’): free from the church, state and any commercial interest. The basic philosophy of VU is expressed in three core values:responsible
open
personally engaged 
VU and Crisp
The Creative Industry Scientific Programme develops a knowledge infrastructure that integrates the Creative Industries with sectors of great societal concern such as eldercare and sustainability. CRISP focuses on the design of Product Service Systems, generating and disseminating the knowledge, tools and methods necessary for designing complex combinations of intelligent products and services that may break through traditional approaches in the for VU University crucial focus areas of health and wellbeing. Creativity stands for looking further and solving major social problems is part of our mission, which is why VU University supports CRISP with warm enthusiasm.