Founded in 1803 after a Royal Decree was issued by King [4] Charles IV of Spain, under the name Franciscan College (Spanish: Colegio de Franciscanos),[1][5] they have maintained their accreditation from the Ministry of Education for more than 2 centuries.

[9] The University of Antioquia was preceded by the Franciscan College (Spanish: Colegio de Franciscanos), which was founded in 1803 after King Charles IV of Spain issued the Royal Decree of February 9, 1801,[10] allowing the establishment of a college-convent in Villa de la Candelaria [citation needed], Medellín.

The structure is known as the San Ignacio building (Spanish: Edificio San Ignacio)[5] In 1822, once independence from Spain was consolidated, the Vice President of the Republic of Colombia Francisco de Paula Santander promoted the establishment of a new educational plan for the institution and, five years later, president Simón Bolívar allowed instruction in law [citation needed].

[1] During a great part of the 19th century, the country faced political and armed struggles and the university was closed and occupied by belligerents impeding the institution's development.

[5] In the first thirty years the university reorganized its curriculum, redesigned some of the buildings, acquired bibliographic material and employed renowned professors.

[14] With an area of 89 hectares (220 acres),[2] Citadel Robledo hosts the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, the School of Nutrition, Veterinary Clinic and the Institute of Physical Education.

For each semester, the test is often extremely competitive, meaning that the selectivity in admission to each of the academic programs is very high, in some cases presenting the proportion of applicants admitted less than 10%.

In general at all levels requires the mastery of a foreign language and there are different requirements such as exams, interviews, proposed work and / or research, undergraduate grades, publications, awards, honors, work experience, research experience, participation in events, presentations, and more.

[23] The majority of the excellence groups (A1, A and B) are concentrated at University Research Headquarters (Spanish: Sede de Investigación Universitaria -SIU-) an advanced project created by the university to promote a qualitative and quantitative transformation of its research system..[citation needed] The SIU supports currently 36 research groups that are classified by Colciencias as categories A and B, working in diverse areas such as biotechnology, chemistry, materials science, genetics, environment, immunology, infectious and tropical diseases.

[25] The university offers training and has varsity teams in aikido, chess, track and field, basketball, cycling, climbing, football, futsal, gymnastics, judo, karate, weightlifting, swimming, rugby union, softball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, triathlon, ultimate, volleyball, and underwater rugby.

[26] The university supports student groups and organizations involved in academic, art, ecological, social and sports activities.

[27] Former students and professors of the university include former presidents Álvaro Uribe Vélez, Mariano Ospina Pérez, Carlos E. Restrepo, Liborio Mejía and Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, as well as politician Carlos Gaviria Díaz and writer Tomás Carrasquilla.

[28] Other alumni include writers Fernando González and Gonzalo Arango, and politician Fabio Valencia Cossio.