The first sign of the existence of a studium in Law in Macerata comes from 1290, yet documents assess that the administration of the town organized a campaign encouraging students to come during the XIII century.The University was officially founded by Pope Paul III on  July 1, 1540: at that time there were only the faculties of  Theology, Law, Medicine and Philosophy, organized along the lines of the University of Bologna.
In 1564, our University adopted its own statute, each for a cathegory of students (divided into Law and Arts), independent of each other and autonomus.
During the XIV century the University developed its fame especially through the large income of students from Spain and Germany and from the South of Italy.

International relations have a great importance and the main aim of the University is to enlarge the network of partner Institutions in order to increase the students and teachers incoming and outgoing mobility.

The University has international exchange programmes in European Union  (Socrates, Tempus, Leonardo, Jean Monnet) and outside EU.

For the convenience of the student at the University of Macerata degrees of similar classes have been grouped together into broad disciplinary areas. In each area there are three-year undergraduate degree courses and at least one two-year post-graduate course. Therefore right from the start you can choose the final goal of your studies and the route you will take to get there. Obviously if you want to change your mind about any of your original choices you can do so and still go ahead and get your first and second level degree.