University of Barcelona, state institution of higher learning in Barcelona, Spain. It developed from the merger in 1377 of two academies, one in Barcelona and one at the nearby city of Lérida. The institution obtained university status in 1450 by authority of King Alfonso V and was confirmed by a papal decree. In 1714 the university was suppressed and moved to Cervera by King Philip V of Spain. It was reestablished in Barcelona in 1842. Faculties include law, philosophy and educational sciences, medicine, economics and business studies, pharmacy, biology, geology, geography, philology, fine arts, chemistry, mathematics, dentistry, psychology, and physics. In 1998 the teaching staff numbered about 4,000, of whom many were part-time, and the student enrollment was about 64,000. The university libraries contain more than 2 million items.