The heritage of the Museum of University History currently consists of over 1000 pieces (original and facsimile documents, photos, post cards, various scientific devices, medals, publications of university professors, etc.). By their means, the evolution of all colleges, faculties, and universities that have consecutively existed in Cluj-Napoca from the 16th century until today is reconstituted.
The Museum is structured in a few compartments:
1. The permanent exhibition, representing the history of the Cluj University, 16th – 20th centuries. Within the permanent exhibition, exhibits are grouped in several sections in accordance with chronological and thematic criteria.
The first glass cases display information regarding the pupils and teachers of the colleges that were founded in Cluj by the different Catholic and Protestant religious orders between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Most significant aspects of the activity of the Franz Josef Hungarian University that was located in Cluj between 1872 and 1918, when Transylvania was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, are illustrated.
The largest section of the Museum is dedicated to the Romanian University of Cluj. Founded in 1919, it adopted starting October 1927 the official name of "King Ferdinand I University". Here, beside the information about the scientific life between the two world wars, the visitor also finds details concerning university infrastructure (buildings, laboratories, research centers, etc.). There are also exhibited witnesses regarding the political activity of the university professors of Cluj, i.e. the activities performed by the different student organizations between the two world wars. The difficult years of the Second World War, when the Romanian University of Cluj was forced to take refuge in Sibiu and Timişoara, and to completely reorganize its instructional and educational process in order to adapt to the new geopolitical circumstances, are also documented in the glass cases of the Museum.
The last part of the permanent exhibition reveals to the public through numerous documents and photos the university life in Cluj during the communist period, specifically between 1945 and 1989. Along these decades, the Cluj University has suffered many transformations concerning its organization and way of functioning. Between 1945 and 1959, two separate universities have existed in Cluj, a Romanian one, called "Victor Babeş", and a Hungarian one, called "Bolyai". In 1959, the two institutions were unified, and thus was founded the Babeş-Bolyai University that has been functioning since then.
A special section of the permanent exhibition of the University Museum is exclusively dedicated to the great personalities of the Cluj University, who have contributed in a remarkable way to the development of this institution and also to the progress of world science and culture: Emil Racoviţă, Constantin Daicoviciu, Hermann Oberth, Lucian Blaga, Petre Sergescu, Augustin Maior, Eugen Speranţia, etc.
2. Temporary exhibition halls. All temporary events and projects of the Museum take place here (for details, please see Events).
3. The Museum has also a specialty library, accessible by request to all categories of persons (researchers, doctoral students, etc.) interested in the field of university history and science history, from a local, national, and international perspective.
The University Museum organizes, free of charge, guided tours on various subjects and for different age groups, in several languages (Romanian, Hungarian, French, and English). For middle school and high school pupils, there is the possibility of organizing lessons regarding the history of Cluj or the history of the teaching system (at Romanian or at European level).
By request, the museum staff offers specialized assistance to the public interested in issues concerning the history of universities and intellectuals (bibliographic assistance, consultancy on the collections of the Museum, etc.).
On temporary cultural events at the Museum, the visitors are invited to take part in different types of museum education activities (discovery routes, questionnaires, puzzle games, prize contests, etc.).