The university's main campus is located on Claverton Down, a site overlooking the UNESCO World Heritage city of Bath, and was purpose-built, constructed from 1964 in the modernist style of the times.

The University of Bath can trace its roots to the Merchant Venturers' Technical College (whose alumni include the physicists Paul Dirac and Peter Higgs), an institution founded as a school in 1595[6] and a technical school established in Bristol in 1856 which became part of the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1885.

Following discussions between the College Principal and the Director of Education in Bath, an agreement was reached to provide the college with a new home in Claverton Down, Bath, on a greenfield site, purchased through a compulsory purchase order from the Candy family of Norwood Farm, overlooking the city.

Construction of the purpose-built campus began in 1964, with the first building, now known as 4 South, completed in 1965, and the royal charter was granted on 25 October 1966.

[16] By August 2017, four MPs had resigned from the advisory board at the University of Bath in protest against the vice-chancellor's pay package.

[18] In January 2018 the University Court voted for her immediate departure and demanding the chair the governing council and remuneration committee should step down, though this decision could not override the existing contractual agreement with Breakwell.

[22][better source needed] The university was criticised for its initial response to the protesters, blocking the entrance to the only freely accessible toilets in the occupied area for the first 21 hours of the occupation.

[23] The university's response was criticised by local councillor Joe Rayment, alumnus Marcus Sedgwick, NUS Black Students' officer, and prompted the resignation of an external examiner.

[24][25][26][27][better source needed] In September 2018, it was announced that Ian H. White would take over from Glynis Breakwell as Vice-Chancellor in April 2019.

Buildings would line the parade and student residences built on tower blocks rise from the central thoroughfare.

At the centre of the campus is the Library, a facility open round the clock offering computing services, information and research assistance as well as books and journals.

A number of outlets are housed around the parade, including restaurants, bars and fast-food cafés and two small supermarkets, as well as academic blocks.

There is also an Innovation Centre that provides work space, practical support and expertise to local technology enterprises and entrepreneurial companies that emerge from the university's student and academic research base Two new buildings were opened in 2017.

The university also opened a centre at 83 Pall Mall in central London, with a stated aim of building partnerships and engaging with business, politics and Bath's alumni community in the UK's capital.

Officially The University of Bath in Swindon, the campus offered undergraduate courses in childhood studies and social work.

[42] Under the Gateway Project, the university had planned to build a major new campus next to the Great Western Hospital and the Coate Water nature reserve.

In 2011, the university received the award for the Department of Social & Policy Sciences' 'Influential research into child poverty and support for vulnerable people'.

[51] The university also received the prize in 2000 to recognise the 'invaluable services to industrial and scientific communities' of the Centre for Power Transmission & Motion Control.

[52] The University of Bath received a Gold award as part of the UK Government's Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

[59] Bath is ranked 11th in the Complete University Guide 2018 League table and has 18 subjects placed within the top 10 in the UK.

[76] In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 71:10:19 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 47:53.