University of Calabar grew out of the Calabar campus of University of Nigeria (UNN), Nigeria which began functioning during the 1973 academic session with 154 students and a small cadre of academic, administration and professional staff.
In April 1975, the Federal Military Government of Nigeria announced that as part of the National Development Plan, seven new Universities were to be established at various locations in the country. The University of Calabar was one of the seven Universities set up under this programme.
Located in Calabar Municipal, an ancient city with a long tradition of culture and contact with western civilization, the already developed area of the University occupies a 17-hectare site on the eastern side of the town, between the Great Qua River and the Calabar River.
Additional land has been acquired on both sides of the Great Qua River for the development of the University.
Academic activities actually commenced in the 1973/74 session, in what was then a Campus of the University Of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
As a Federal institution, the University strives to bring about an atmosphere conducive to patriotic interaction between people from all parts of the world including Nigerians from all States and language groups.
Therefore, all States of the federation are represented in the student population of the Institution.
On academic programming, the University adopts a flexible and forward-looking attitude. Thus, from its inception, the University adopted the four-year integrated degree programme based on the semester, and course system in the Faculties. The University also makes conscious use of local materials for instructional purposes, in the sincere effort to make her programmes relevant to the needs of Nigeria.
Though not responsible to Cross River State in which it is located, the University is responsive to the genuine aspirations and interests of her immediate community and interacts freely with that community through her programmes in Adult and Continuing Education, comprehensive health scheme, as well as symposia, seminars and workshops organized frequently on and off-campus.