The University of Exeter received its Royal Charter in 1955, but grew from earlier academic institutions dating back to the 1850s. The main phase of physical development took place in the late 1950s and 1960s, although in the 1990s the university invested over £30 million in student accommodation and created a new conference centre. The Postgraduate Medical School was established in 1962 and is now part of the Peninsula Medical School. St Luke's College of Education, now the School of Education, was incorporated in 1978. Camborne School of Mines (CSM) was incorporated in 1993.

The University is famous for its campus environment, described by The Independent as ‘sublime’. It is only a 15 minute walk away from the centre of Exeter, a city which is consistently rated highly in quality of life surveys and has good road, rail and air links with the rest of the UK and beyond. Exeter is also booming economically. A string of company relocations headed by the Met Office are bringing new jobs and prosperity. Devon, with its beaches, moorland and countryside, was voted top county by Country Life magazine. For those craving nightlife, the University has its own nightclub, the Lemon Grove or ‘Lemmy’. Many more nightclubs, pubs and restaurants can be found in the city centre and around Exeter Quay. Dartmoor and South Devon’s sandy beaches are within easy reach and cater for a huge range of outdoor pursuits including surfing, sailing, climbing, cycling and hiking.
 

The University of Exeter is a major player in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a multi-million pound partnership initiative aimed at expanding higher education opportunities in Cornwall and bringing about a sustainable step change in the development of the Cornish economy. The new £50 million campus at Penryn near Falmouth, shared with Falmouth College of Arts, opened at the end of September 2004.
The Tremough campus allows the University's existing operations in Cornwall (the earth and environmental science programmes of Camborne School of Mines, Cornish Studies, Lifelong Learning and a BA in English degree previously taught at Truro) to be brought together on a single site for the first time. They are joined by new teaching and research in Geography and Conservation Biology and Ecology.