The University of Belgrade (Serbian: Универзитет у Београду / Univerzitet u Beogradu) is a public research university in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments by 1838 to form a single university. The university has around 59,600 enrolled students and over 4,600 academic staff members. Since its founding, the university has educated more than 378,000 bachelors, approximately 25,100 master's, 29,000 specialists, and 14,670 doctors. The university comprises 31 faculties, 12 research institutes, the university library, and 9 university centres. The faculties are organized into four groups: social sciences and humanities; medical sciences; natural sciences and mathematics; and technological sciences.
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History
19th century
The predecessor to the University of Belgrade was established in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School by Dositej Obradović, a key Serbian figure in the Age of Enlightenment. It was the highest ranking educational institution in Serbia between 1808 and 1905, as the first Higher School (1808–1813), the Belgrade Lyceum (Serbian: Београдски Лицеј / Beogradski Licej; 1838–1863), and the second Higher School (1863–1905). It was initially located at the Princess Ljubica's Residence building and then moved to another significant site in Belgrade, the Captain Miša’s Mansion, which today serves as the university's seat.
20th century
The University of Belgrade witnessed a massive growth and expansion in the years before the Second World War and especially after the founding of the second Yugoslavia. The first woman graduated from the University of Belgrade's Law School in 1914.
In the 1960s and 70s, the university developed into a remarkable regional and international educational institution. Many students from other countries were trained there. Up to 40,000 students from Africa alone studied at the University of Belgrade during the existence of the SFR Yugoslavia. In the socialist Yugoslavia, the university was expanded, but it was also exposed to state and ideological influence. It has also been the driving force for the establishment of almost all other universities in today's Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and several universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1968, its students organized the first mass protest in post-World War II Yugoslavia.
In the early 1990s the quality of university programs deteriorated as a consequence of the political instability in the country and the subsequent wars of Yugoslavia. There was a lack of financial resources and the quality dropped significantly. During the Milošević government in Serbia, the university had to face external political pressure and the lack of academic and administrative autonomy.
In the mid-1990s, the University of Belgrade became an internationally recognized center of the political opposition in Serbia. Massive anti-government protests were staged by the Belgrade students and professors. The university's student organizations (especially "Otpor!") significantly contributed to overthrowing the government.
21st century
The university has become a signatory of the Bologna declaration. Being one of Europe's largest universities with an enrollment of nearly 90,000 students, the university broadly cooperates with international academic institutions and is involved in countless bilateral and multilateral academic projects.
Campus
Having developed with the city in the 19th century, a number of the university buildings are an important part of Belgrade’s architecture and cultural heritage. Former sites include today's Museum of Vuk and Dositej and Princess Ljubica's Residence buildings, both of them being recognized as Belgrade's topmost historic buildings. The historical Subotica Law School (1920-1941) was also a part of the University of Belgrade. Some of the post-World War II facilities were built in the brutalist style. The university has sites throughout the city, with the two major campuses, one next to the Prince Michael Street at Studentski Trg and the other on King Alexandar Boulevard. It has eleven dormitories scattered throughout the city's urban neighborhoods for 11,340 students, including one dormitory complex in New Belgrade. Many of the schools have separate buildings at various locations in Belgrade. The university also owns several endowment buildings in the downtown district, most of them being built in the 19th and early 20th century.
The central administrative building, Faculty of Philology and Faculty of Philosophy are located at Studentski Trg. The Faculty of Biology, Faculty of Geography, Faculty of Mathematics, Faculty for Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Physics and Faculty of Chemistry are situated in one building at Studentski Trg as well. The University Library, Law School, Faculty of Architecture, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering are situated at the King Alexandar Boulevard campus.
Other major academic sites include the School of Economics building near the downtown district, the Faculty of Orthodox Theology building at Bogoslovija (Palilula neighborhood), the Teachers’ Training Faculty building in the Savski Venac municipality, the Faculty of Security Studies building in the Vračar neighborhood, and the Faculty for Special Education and Rehabilitation building in the Dorćol neighborhood. The School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine share a building near the Karađorđev Park, next to several hospitals. Medical teaching facilities, such as the University Hospital Center or Institute of Mental Health are on other locations within the city. The Faculty of Agriculture is situated alongside the Zemun City Park and it operates the Radmilovac experimental farm in Grocka. The Faculty of Political Sciences and Faculty of Organizational Sciences are situated close to each other in the same street of the Voždovac neighborhood.
Organization and administration
The University of Belgrade is governed by the 44-member University Senate elected for a three-year term. The senate is composed of the rector, 4 vice-rectors, 31 deans, 4 presidents of the faculty Group Councils and 4 directors of scientific institutes. 8 student-representatives with a one-year term elected by the university's Student Parliament participate in the work of the Senate. The rector provides governance and represents the university externally.
The University Council is a 31-member managing body. The university entrusts 21 members, 5 are appointed by the Serbian government and 5 elected by the university's Student Parliament. The University Council has its president (chairperson) and vice president. In addition to these bodies, the university has advisory academic councils and professional boards, appointed to adopt decisions and state their opinion on the election of teaching staff.
Faculties
The university is divided into 31 faculties, including (with data about academic staff and number of students as of 2023–24 school year):
Research institutes
Institute for Applied Nuclear Energy
Institute for Chemistry, Technology and Metallurgy
Institute of History
Institute for Medical Research
Institute for Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering
Institute for Multidisciplinary Research
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory
Institute of Physics
Mihajlo Pupin Institute
Nikola Tesla Institute of Electrical Engineering
Siniša Stanković Institute for Biological Research
Vinča Nuclear Institute
Centers
Information Center
Computer Center
Serbian-Japanese Center for Scientific Simulations
Center for Career Development
Center for Strategic Management
Center for Technology Transfer
Center for Students with Disabilities
Center for Quality Assurance
Center for Lifelong Learning
Academics
The Belgrade Law School, established in 1808, is a regional leader in legal education and one of the largest law schools in the Balkans. Its law education prepares students for working in law practice, business, public service and teaching. The Residence of Princess Ljubica as well as the Captain Miša Mansion once used to be home to this educational institution when it was within the Belgrade Higher School. Since its founding, it has educated almost 50,000 law graduates, around 1,200 magistri iuris and 830 doctores iuris, as well as hundreds of specialists in various areas. Many Faculty of Law alumni have become recognized experts and scholars in all branches of law, law professors and high ranking government officials.
The Law School's historic building, constructed by Serbian architect Petar Bajalović in 1941, comprises about 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of space. All the law schools established subsequently in Serbia (Subotica, Novi Sad, Pristina, Niš, Kragujevac), Montenegro (Podgorica), and in other parts of the former Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, Skopje) were formed from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law as a core.
Initially established in 1937, the Faculty of Economics was the first centre of higher education dedicated to the study of economics in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Its curriculum includes courses in economic analysis and policy; marketing; accounting, auditing and financial management; trade and commerce; finance, banking and insurance; tourism and hotel industry; statistics and informatics; management and international economics and foreign trade.
The Faculty of Philosophy is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in Serbia, founded in the early 19th century. It employs a staff of 255 teachers and has approximately 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students within nine departments.
The Faculty of Philology trains and educates its students in the academic study or practice in linguistics and philology. The study of philology was established in Belgrade within the Belgrade Higher School's Department of Philosophy in 1808. Today, the school offers courses in philology, linguistics and literature in dozens of languages. The school is divided into departments, which possess their own libraries, it operates several research centers and publishes a number of periodical publications.
Rankings
On Shanghai Ranking (ARWU), the University of Belgrade ranks between 401st and 500th place, according to the 2025 global ranking. In 2025, it ranked between 76th and 100th place in Metallurgical Engineering it also ranked between 101st and 150th in Food Science & Technology and Veterinary Sciences. In 2025 on USNWR, the University of Belgrade ranked 460th globally. Out of all subjects on USNWR the University of Belgrade it was best ranked in Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems being 61st in the world.
Student life
Residential life
The University of Belgrade offers housing options within 11 student dormitories and it has the largest student housing system in Serbia, accommodating up to 10,154 students at various locations throughout the city.
''Studentski grad'' (4,406)
''Karaburma'' (1,170)
''Patris Lumumba'' (1,021)
''4. April'' (863)
''Slobodan Penezić'' (756)
''Kralj Aleksandar I'' (525)
''Košutnjak'' (413)
''Rifat Burdžević'' (367)
''Vera Blagojević I'' and ''Vera Blagojević II'' (313)
''Žarko Marinović'' (188)
''Mika Mitrović'' (162)
The university's "Studentski grad" in New Belgrade is a dormitory complex organized into 4 blocks. It has a theater building, movie theater, facilities for athletics, two libraries, reading rooms and open stage for summer concerts.
The other dormitories are smaller by capacity and scattered throughout the city's urban neighbourhoods. ''Kralj Aleksandar I'' Dormitory (also known as "Lola") at the King Alexandar Boulevard campus is the oldest dormitory in the Balkans, founded in 1927 by King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. It has 190 rooms and provides accommodation for the university's successful students, based on their grade point average. Some of the dormitories got their names after political leaders. As an example, the Patrice Lumumba Hall of Residence at Belgrade University built in 1961 today continues to carry the name of Lumumba, the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped win its independence from Belgium.