The university was given its Royal Charter of Incorporation in 1965. It is situated on a campus which straddles the boundary between the Coventry and the County of Warwickshire.
The idea for a university in Coventry was mooted after the Second World War but it was a partnership of the city and the county which brought the university into being.
The university initially admitted graduate students in 1964 and took its first 450 undergraduates in October 1965. In October 2013 the university had over 23,872 students.