The University of Castilla-La Mancha came into operation in the year 1985 although it was officially created by law on the 30th of June 1982, as a result of the autonomy policy and collective desire shown by Castilla-La Mancha society which was shared by the regional government.
From its first days this academic institution was an element for cohesion and had a clear aim in mind: to act as a fundamental cog for economic, social, cultural and technological development for the Autonomous Community, providing solutions for its present and future needs.
In 1982, professor Javier de Cardenas y Chavarri was named chairman of the Management Commission entrusted with setting the University of Castilla-La Mancha in motion. This post was to be taken by professor Isidro Ramos Salavert between 1983 and 1988 who was succeeded by professors Luís Arroyo Zapatero (1988-2003), Ernesto Martínez Ataz (2003-2011) and Miguel Ángel Collado Yurrita (2012-2020). Since December 2020 this became the responsibility of Professor José Julián Garde López-Brea.
In its thirty years of operation, the UCLM has provided young people with access to higher education and has dynamized life in the cities where its four campuses have been established: Ciudad Real, site of its vice-chancellorship-, Albacete, Cuenca and Toledo. At present, teaching extends to the towns of Almaden (Ciudad Real) and Talavera de la Reina (Toledo).