The movement began at a meeting in London in 1854 called by Hugh Owen, including leaders of Welsh theological colleges and members of parliament.

[8] Discussions on the founding of a university college in South Wales were revived in 1879, when a group of Welsh and English MPs urged the government to consider the poor provision of higher and intermediate education in Wales and "the best means of assisting any local effort which may be made for supplying such deficiency.

"[9] In August 1880, William Ewart Gladstone's government appointed a departmental committee to conduct "an enquiry into the nature and extent of intermediate and higher education in Wales", chaired by the 1st Baron Aberdare and consisting of Viscount Emlyn, the Reverend Prebendary H. G. Robinson, Henry Richard, John Rhys and Lewis Morris.

The committee cited the unique Welsh national identity and noted that many students in Wales could not afford to travel to University in England or Scotland.

It advocated a national degree-awarding university for Wales, composed of regional colleges, which should be non-sectarian in nature and exclude the teaching of theology.

[13] This was strengthened by the need to consider the interests of Monmouthshire, at that time not legally incorporated into Wales, and the greater sum received by Cardiff in support of the college, through a public appeal that raised £37,000 and a number of private donations, notably from the 3rd Marquess of Bute and Lord Windsor.

[13] The University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire opened on 24 October 1883 with courses in biology, chemistry, English, French, German, Greek, history, Latin, mathematics and astronomy, music, Welsh, logic and philosophy, and physics.

In 1901, John Viriamu Jones persuaded Cardiff Corporation to give the college a five-acre site in Cathays Park (instead of selling it as they would have done otherwise).

Money ran short for the project, however, and although the side-wings were completed in the 1960s the planned great hall was never built.

[19] In 1988, University College Cardiff ran into financial difficulties and a declaration of insolvency was considered.

[21] The college was granted degree-awarding powers by the Privy Council in 1997 although, as a member of the University of Wales, it did not use them at that time.

This received funds of £12.5 million from the Welsh Assembly[24] and trebled the number of trainee doctors in clinical training in Wales over a four-year period.

[25] However, in July 2009, the university announced it was ending over 250 humanities courses at the centre, making over 100 staff redundant.

[31][32] In 2020, Grace Krause, a PhD student employed at Cardiff University started experiencing headaches and back pain after lengthy work at a computer.

"[32] Soon after, an email from the university was sent to all PhD students asking for these comments to be deleted, in order to avoid negative media attention, which sparked a debate about freedom of speech between employers and employees.

[32] Cardiff University announced in January 2025 that it had an operating deficit of £31.2 million for 2023–24 and announced a three-month consultation on plans to reduce its academic workforce by approximately 400 full-time equivalent positions, representing around 7 per cent of its total staff, as well as discontinuing programs in ancient history, modern languages and translation, music, nursing, and religion and theology, and merging other academic departments.

[35] The Arts and Humanities are expected to suffer most severely, with the remaining workforce to be reduced by approximately 120 full-time equivalent positions, which is around half.

[39] The university's deficit is part of the wider financial challenges in the UK higher education sector, where universities are facing budget deficits due to factors such as tuition fee caps, rising operational costs, and fluctuations in student enrolment.

[42][43][44] List of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of Cardiff University and its predecessors (shown in brackets): The university's academic facilities are centred around Cathays Park in central Cardiff,[45] which contains the university's grade II* listed main building,[46] housing administrative facilities and the science library, previously called the Drapers' library;[47][48] the grade II listed Bute building,[49] which contains the Welsh School of Architecture,[50] the grade I listed Glamorgan building,[51] which houses the Cardiff Schools of Planning and Geography and Social Sciences,[52] the Redwood Building (named in 1979 after the Redwood Family of Boverton near Llantwit Major by a 1978 suggestion by J. D. R. Thomas), which houses the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences;[53] the law building which houses the Cardiff Law School;[54] and the biosciences building, which provides facilities for both biosciences and medical teaching.

[60] The university also utilises the nearby Millennium Stadium for rugby fixtures such as the annual varsity tournament.

Cardiff has produced two Nobel Laureates on its staff, Sir Martin Evans and Robert Huber.

The university was one of only two in the UK and the only one in Wales to achieve top marks in a Stonewall checklist of priorities for LGBT+ students.

[87] In the 2016–2017 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 76:5:19 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 59:41.

[89] They are in a variety of architectural styles and ages, from the Gothic Aberdare Hall, built in 1895, to the modern Talybont Gate Building, completed in 2014.

It has shops, a night club and the studios of Xpress Radio and Gair Rhydd, the student newspaper.

It is democratically controlled by the student body through the election of seven full-time officers, who manage the running of the Union.

[91] The Union provides a range of services, including a number of cafes, bars and shops, as well as advice, training and representation.

[97][98] The encampment dispersed on 17 July 2024 after the university confirmed that it already met some demands and committed to address some of the others.