University of Perugia, coeducational state institution of higher learning at Perugia, Italy. The university was founded in 1200 by a group of students seceding from the University of Bologna. It was recognized by Pope Clement V in 1308 as a studium generale, a place of study accepting scholars from all over Europe and conferring a generally recognized degree. After the annexation of the papal territories by the Kingdom of Italy in 1860, the university became autonomous. Among its modern faculties are law, medicine, letters and philosophy, political science, economics, veterinary medicine, agriculture, pharmacy, and the physical and biological sciences.