[5] The Jesuits were expelled from Malta in 1768, and although their property was taken over by the Treasury of the Order of St. John, the college remained open and professors retained their posts.

[5] The University of Malta officially came to existence on 22 November 1769, when Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca signed a decree constituting a Pubblica Università di Studi Generali.

[4] The university was replaced by the École Centrale during the French occupation of Malta from 1798 to 1800, but was once again reopened by the British in the early 19th century.

The university opened a much larger campus at Tal-Qroqq in Msida in the late 1960s, but it retained the Valletta building which is still used for some lectures and conferences.

[7] Plans to construct this campus began in the late 1950s after the university's original premises in Valletta were deemed too small.

[8] The foundation stone of the campus was laid down on 22 September 1964, a day after Malta's independence, by Commonwealth Secretary Duncan Sandys[7] and construction was completed by 1970.

[8] The design was inspired by American college campuses, and it contains separate buildings for each faculty, along with a library and a University House, surrounded by a ring road.

This extension was built between 1989 and 1999, and its most significant component is the Gateway Building which serves as the university's main entrance.

[9][10][11] A masterplan for future development of the campus has been prepared, and it includes a proposed Sustainable Living Complex which would house the Faculty for the Built Environment.

[12] A building which will serve as accommodation for university students is currently under construction in an area between the main campus and Mater Dei Hospital, after it was approved by the Planning Authority in 2018.

[16] The campus is used to host events such as international conferences and seminars, along with a number of short courses and summer schools.

It currently houses the Research, Innovation & Development Trust (RIDT), the Conferences & Events Unit, the Centre for the Study & Practice of Conflict Resolution, and the Valletta Campus Library.

[19] The Gozo campus also houses the Güsten Atmospheric Research Centre, which forms part of the within the Faculty of Science's Department of Geosciences.

Faculties group together departments concerned with a major area of knowledge, while institutes are of an interdisciplinary nature.

[20] The administration rebranded the university for the fall semester of 2017 with a stylized version of the logo that removed the Latin motto Ut Fructificemus Deo ("We should bring forth fruit unto God") for daily use and retained it in a version to be used in ceremonial contexts; some faculty objected to removing the motto.

The Cottonera Resource Centre acts as a hub that co-ordinates links between communities in the inner harbour area and the university, facilitating resource-transfer and capacity building.

A basic Foundation Studies Course enables international high school students who have completed their secondary or high school education overseas but who do not have the necessary entry requirements, to qualify for admission to an undergraduate degree course.

[33][34][35] The most prominent student society for the Faculty of Laws is Għaqda Studenti tal-Liġi (GħSL), which is 80 years old.