The university was founded in 1456 and is therefore one of the oldest universities in Central Europe. It is the fourth most populated university on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, and is also the second in the eastern seas ; By the changing territorial affiliation of Vorpommern , it was temporarily the oldest university in Sweden (1648-1815) and Prussia (1815-1947).
The founding ceremony took place under the Camminer Bishop Henning Iven in the Greifswald Cathedral of St. Nikolai , where even today university events such as the annual matriculation celebrations take place. First, the four classical faculties : theology , philosophy , medicine and law were established. It was only in the 19th and 20th century that further faculties such as the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Law and Political Science were to be added.