The University's foundation stone was laid by King George V on 19 July 1920 and 89 students (including eight female students) enrolled that same year. By September 1939, there were 65 staff and 485 students.

In 1947 there were just two permanent buildings on campus: Singleton Abbey and the library. The Principal, J S Fulton, recognized the need to expand the estate and had a vision of a self-contained community, with residential, social and academic facilities on a single site. His vision was to become the first university campus in the UK.

By 1960 a large-scale development program was underway that would see the construction of new halls of residence, the Maths and Science Tower, and College House (later renamed Fulton House). The 1960s also saw the development of the "finite element method" by Professor Olek Zienkiewicz. His technique revolutionized the design and engineering of manufactured products, and Swansea was starting to stake its claim as an institution that demanded to be taken seriously.

Work began on the student village at Hendrefoelan in 1971, the South Wales Miners' Library was established in 1973 and the Taliesin Arts Centre opened on campus in 1984. The Regional Schools of Nursing transferred to Swansea in 1992, and the College of Medicine opened in 2001. Technium Digital was completed in 2005 and, barely two years later, the University opened its Institute of Life Science, which commercializes the results of research undertaken in the Swansea University Medical School. Work commenced on a second Institute of Life Science in 2009.

In 2012 we began an ambitious campus expansion and development project, including the opening of our Bay Campus in 2015; which is home to the College of Engineering and the School of Management. In 2018 we opened the doors to two further projects, The College; Swansea University's joint venture with Navitas (The International College Wales Swansea, ICWS) and the Computational Foundry; the home of the College of Science's departments of Computer Science and Mathematics. 

Swansea University Ranking

• THE World University Rankings 2021
• QS World University Rankings 2022
• ARWU 2020 601-700

Times Good University Guide

Swansea University appears in 35 of the 68 subjects published in the 2021 guide. The University has 9 subjects in the top 10 and a further 11 in the top 20 of their respective tables.

Guardian University Guide

Swansea University has 31 subjects ranked in the Guardian University Guide 2021. Six subjects are in the top 10 and a further seven in the top 20.

Complete University Guide

Swansea University has 44 subjects ranked in the Complete University Guide 2022. 10 subjects appear within the top 10 of their respective fields, and a further 9 in the top 20.