The University of Seville was founded by Arcediano Maese Rodrigo Fernandez de Santaella and was certified as a university in 1555. In its origins in 1505 it was called Colegio Santa María de Jesús, although the real history of this university started in the middle of the thirteenth century when the Dominicans created the schools of Arabic, Hebrew, and Greek to prepare missionaries, and later in 1254 Alfonso X "The Wise" founded the General Schools of Arabic and Latin. In the middle of XX century the University of Seville was moved to the Royal Tobacco Factory building.

Currently is the second Spanish university in the rank of most students and together with the university of Malaga they support the project Andalucía TECH which ranked International Excellence Campus.