Origins The College of Islamic Sciences claims that it originated in 1067 A.D. as
Abu-Haneefa. The College of Law, the earliest of the modern institutions that were to become the first constituent Colleges (i.e. Faculties) of the University of Baghdad, was founded in 1908. The College of Engineering was established in 1921; the Higher Teachers Training College and the Lower College of Education in 1923, the College of Medicine in 1927, and the College of Pharmacy in 1936. In 1942, the first higher institution for girls, Queen Alia College, was established. In 1943, proposals for further new Colleges appeared, leading to the foundation of the College of Arts and the
College of Science in 1949, and Abu Ghraib College of Agriculture in 1950.
Foundation and expansion In 1943, the first committee was formed to explore the possibilities of establishing an Iraqi university in Baghdad. The first resolution enacted in September in 1956 to establish the university. The branches of public administration and business administration were merged into one branch, the administration branch, and the department included three branches instead of four: the management branch, the accounting branch and the commercial teacher preparation branch. A number of American university delegations toured Iraqi universities, to help revive a higher-education system depleted of resources and isolated. Al-Rawi was a member and high ranked profile in the
regime of
Saddam Hussein, though he maintained low profile. In 2024, it achieved Pioneering Position in Times Higher Education Interdisciplinary Science Rankings. The Arab University Ranking for 2025 placed the university among the top Arab institutions, ranking it 14th with 588.3 points across the region. In September 2025, the university established Colleges of Excellence and Artificial Intelligence at the campus. ==Presidents==