UGA also owns and operates facilities in Valence, Chambéry, Les Houches, Villar-d'Arêne, Mirabel, Échirolles, and La Tronche.

[3][4] The city of Grenoble is one of the largest scientific centers in Europe,[5][6] hosting facilities of every existing public research institution in France.

[7] The University of Grenoble was founded on 12 May 1339 by Humbert II of Viennois, the last independent ruler of Dauphiné, a state of the Holy Roman Empire.

[10] King Robert, known as the Wise, skillfully developed Naples from a small port into a lavish city and had a reputation of a cultured man and a generous patron of the arts, friends with such great minds as Petrarch, Boccaccio, and Giotto.

[11][10] Such rich experience contributed to Humbert's intention to create a university in his own state, and to do so he visited Pope Benedict XII to get a papal bull of approval.

Humbert cared deeply about his students, offering generous aid, protection, and even providing a hundred of them with free housing.

[15] The development of the sciences at the university was spearheaded by the transformation of Grenoble from a regional center to a major supplier of industrial motors and electrical equipment in 1880s.

Significant enrollment growth in the 1960s created pressures on the academic infrastructure of the university; the Suzanne Dobelmann library helped expand facilities, especially those relating to science and medicine.

[17] In the aftermath of the May 1968 events in France and the Faure law [fr], many French universities were subdivided by both area of study and political ideology between 1968 and 1971.

However, there are many facilities that are located in other places in and outside of Grenoble, including the Valence campus and an important number of laboratories and research centres.

The Domaine Universitaire hosts the majority of educational facilities and a significant portion of research laboratories of the university.

The Domaine Universitaire campus has a distinct feature of being an isolated part of the agglomeration dedicated solely to academics and student activities.

Due to its rich vegetation, surrounded by Isère (river), in proximity of three mountain chains, and in immediate adjacency to the city, the campus is known for student quality of life.

[42] The university was one of the central members of the Community Université Grenoble Alpes, a COMUE under the presidency of Patrick Lévy.

[45] He was re-elected to the presidency on January 11, 2024;[46] however the administrative court of Grenoble ruled that the elections of the university boards of November 2023 were insincere.

[58] UGA has a considerable number of notable alumni in several different fields, ranging from academics to political leaders, executives, and artists.

Many European politicians have studied law, economics, and languages at UGA, including: Reinhold Maier, Helene Weber, Walther Schreiber, Michel Destot, Louis Besson, Bernard Accoyer, Marlène Schiappa, Thierry Repentin, André Vallini and Geoffrey Acland.

UGA alumni also include American journalist Warren D. Leary, French journalists Éric Conan, Olivier Galzi, Mélissa Theuriau Françoise Joly, Laurent Mauduit, Marc Dugain, Philippe Robinet, Caroline Roux, British Joanna Gosling and Safia Shah, and German Jona von Ustinov, who worked for MI5 during the time of the Nazi regime.

Among social activists who attended UGA, one could find Léo-Paul Lauzon, Léa Roback, Austin Mardon, and the former CEO of the Chicago Urban League James Compton.