Formerly known as Fachhochschule Fulda, it was founded as the fifth state University of Applied Sciences in Hesse in 1974.

Today, Fulda University of Applied Sciences is the first German University of Applied Sciences to have been conferred the right to award PhD degrees.

[1] Established in 1971, the college was part of the University of Applied Sciences Gießen, until the location became an independent institution in 1974.

In 2006, the university was renamed Hochschule Fulda - University of Applied Sciences due to the restructuring of German and European higher education under the Bologna process.

Students at the university can now obtain state-accredited Bachelor, Master, and, as of 2016, also Doctoral degrees.