The University of Cape Coast is a public collegiate university located in the historic town of Cape Coast. The campus has a rare seafront and sits on a hill overlooking the wide Atlantic Ocean. It operates on two campuses: the Southern Campus (Old Site) and the Northern Campus (New Site). Two of the most important historical sites in Ghana, Elmina and Cape Coast Castle, are a few kilometres away from its campus.

The University of Cape Coast was established in October 1962 as a university college in response to the country's dire need for highly qualified and skilled manpower in the education sector. Its original mandate was therefore to train graduate teachers for second cycle institutions, teacher training colleges and technical institutions, a mission that the two existing public universities at the time were unequipped to fulfil.

On 1 October 1971, the college attained the status of a full and independent university, with the authority to confer its own degrees, diplomas and certificates by an Act of Parliament. Today, with the expansion of some of its faculties/schools and the diversification of programmes, the university has the capacity to meet the manpower needs of other ministries and industries in the country, besides that of the Ministry of Education. The university has since added to its functions the training of doctors and health care professionals, business professionals, administrators, legal professionals, and agriculturalists. UCC graduates include Ministers of State, High Commissioners, CEOs, and Members of Parliament.