Founded as the Free University of the Congo in 1963 and now one of the largest universities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with around 15,000 students. The campus, west of the city centre, has the spread-out feel of a late-colonial university, with brick buildings in landscaped grounds.
The university's research stations in the surrounding rainforest are a focus for the study of central African biodiversity, and academic life continues despite the city's isolation and the disruptions of the 1990s wars. Visitors interested in Congolese higher education can arrange a tour through the rectorate.