Founded in 1909 from the amalgamation of different French colonial educational institutions, it has become the oldest and most prestigious organised university in the country.

[1][2][3] The historical tradition of higher education in Algeria began in 1832, with the creation of the Higher School of Letters of Algiers (École supérieure des lettres d'Alger), as a way to guarantee the teaching of Arabic and French languages, in the context of the French conquest of Algeria.

In 1849 the institution opened campuses in Oran and Constantine, and was formally integrated into the regular French education system on 20 December 1879.

[8] The 1971 higher education reform abolished the college system and grouped the different disciplines by affinities into departments and institutes.

The reform decrees the progressive Arabization of the disciplines, starting with certain classes in the social sciences (initially, philosophy and history).