The University of Groningen was not subject to the French regime for very long. Following a failed invasion of Russia (1812), Napoleon's star faded fast and by late 1813, Russian troops had driven him out of his Dutch territories. This led to a major overhaul of the political and academic landscape. The Netherlands became a monarchy, and the provinces definitively lost control of their universities. From this point onwards, the University of Groningen was part of a national higher education system governed by The Hague. Over the course of the 19th century, this had both positive and negative effects, as periods of threat and deep crisis alternated with some spectacular periods of flourishing.

A new beginning

After the French were driven out, authority fell back into the hands of the Stadtholder – this time the son of former Stadtholder William V, William Frederick, who as King William I took over command of the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) with the help of the Allied troops in 1814. In the new Kingdom of the Netherlands, a committee led by the nobleman Frans-Adam van der Duyn van Maasdam designed a new regulation for universities, aiming to combine all the strong aspects of the old system (from before 1795) with the advantages of the French system. This new regulation, which in practice only applied to the Northern Netherlands (approximately corresponding to the territory of the former Republic), resulted in what was known as the Organic Decree in August 1815. The University of Groningen had every reason to look to the future with confidence, having a year earlier celebrated its second centenary in splendour in the presence of the King. The academic Senate met for a formal session, popular festivities were organized, and the entire city was decorated with flags and banners.

According to the Organic Decree, the Northern Netherlands was to have three universities: Leiden, Groningen and Utrecht, now all financed by the national government and therefore called Rijkshogescholen, later Rijksuniversiteiten. Franeker had hoped for a revival but was instead demoted to a Rijksathenaeum, an institution of higher education without ius promovendi and one that was only allowed to teach preparatory university courses.