The station was opened on 10 August 1984 and is located beneath the Maidan Svobody,[1] at the time, the largest square in Europe and the second largest in the world after Tiananmen Square, in the centre of Kharkiv.

The station is named after the Kharkiv National University, which is located on top of the square.

The station is located deep underground and is a bi-level pillar-trispan with blank marble columns.

The underground transfer was once used for daily passenger usage during the 1980s, but was closed down during the early 1990s.

In September 2023 a small school was created in the metro station so that education would continue during the bombing of Kharkiv in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.