The University of Pécs is one of the largest higher education institutions in Hungary. The history of the university began in the Middle Ages, when in 1367, at the request of King Louis I the Great, Pope Urban V granted permission to found the institution. This made it the first university in Hungary and the fourth in Central Europe. The official successor of the university is the Elisabeth University of Pozsony (Bratislava), founded in 1912. In 1921, after Bratislava became part of Czechoslovakia, the university was moved to Pécs in 1951, the Faculty of Medicine separated and existed as an independent institution, until it merged with the Janus Pannonius University (Hungarian: Janus Pannonius Tudományegyetem) in 2000, which united the other faculties in Pécs. This is how the current University of Pécs was created.
Approximately 22,000 students attend the university at the moment, 4,900 of whom are international students enrolled in English or German courses. As a result, it ranks among the universities in the nation with the most students. The institution supports students' academic growth through a number of clinics and research institutes in addition to its ten faculties.