The University of Extremadura was founded in 1973 (Decree 991/1973, 10th May 1973 BOE 18th May 1973). Its history is intimately linked to the region of Extremadura. Initially, the University was made up of the Faculty of Sciences in Badajoz, the University College in Caceres, the University Schools for primary teacher-training in Caceres and Badajoz and the School of Agricultural and Technical Engineering in Badajoz. Since its opening, UEx has seen a rise in student numbers, degrees and centres, expanding to a total of four separate centres, including the campuses in Badajoz and Caceres, the University Centre in Merida and the University Centre in Plasencia.

More than 21,000 under-graduate and post-graduate-level students study at UEx, along with a further 8,000 students who are completing doctoral studies or other courses. 1,500 teachers and more than 800 administrative, technical and service staff work at this University. The Rector is Dr. Hidalgo García and the Governing Body of the University is made up of different professional bodies, such as the Governing Senate and Council and university staff members such as the Vice-Rectors, Management and General Secretary.

The Universidad de Extremadura, through the national contract between CRUE and IEEE, has an open access agreement with IEEE. The agreement enables researchers to publish articles as open access with a 20% discount on eligible APCs for publishing in IEEE Gold journals and a predetermined number of covered open access fees in all IEEE hybrid open access journals. To see eligible titles, please refer to the IEEE open access title list. The agreement applies to all original research articles accepted for publication between now and December 31, 2025. To benefit from this agreement, the corresponding author has to be affiliated with Universidad de Extremadura and use the correct institution name and institutional email address during submission. It is recommended for authors to select the CC BY 4.0 license. The open access funding request will be approved by an administrator in the library. Overlength page charges or color fees are not covered by the agreement and will be charged to authors.