Established in 1990 by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and named after Pompeu Fabra, it is known for its competitiveness in research and commitment to transforming education for future challenges[citation needed].

It is known for its academic prestige and selective admissions, with many of its degree programs requiring high entrance grades[citation needed].

The Research Centre for International Economics (Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI)) is a research institute sponsored by the government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya) and the UPF led by the economist Jordi Galí.

Enric Argullol served as rector from the founding until June 2001, followed by M. Rosa Virós i Galtier (2001–2005), Josep Joan Moreso (2005–2013), Jaume Casals (2013–2021) and Oriol Amat (2021–2023).

[4] The position of UPF is presented in the following international rankings: Times Higher Education (THE), Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the one published by Shanghai University (ARWU) Archived 11 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, U-Multirank (promoted by the EU), and the Leiden ranking, which is focused on research.