Politecnico di Bari was officially established in 1990 via Italian Law No. 245 as the national technical university for Southern Italy—the youngest of Italy’s three polytechnic universities.
However, its academic roots extend back to World War II: Engineering courses were first offered at the University of Bari in 1943–44, under the Faculty of Engineering, which initially provided a Civil Engineering curriculum. Over subsequent decades, the faculty expanded to include disciplines such as Electrical, Mechanical, Electronics, Computer, Environmental, and Industrial Design Engineering.

In 1989, the Faculty of Architecture was introduced, followed by a second Engineering faculty in Taranto in 1991, bringing all into Politecnico di Bari by its official founding in 1990–91.

From an initial focus solely on civil engineering, Poliba now delivers a broad academic portfolio including architecture, design, engineering, master’s, and doctoral programmes across its sites in Bari, Taranto, and Foggia.

It has gained national recognition for research excellence: Poliba ranked first in Italy in the early 2010s for Normalized Impact and Excellence Rate among public universities, surpassing even Milan and Turin polytechnics in citation metrics. Its teaching quality is notable as well, with ~89% of graduates employed within three years—a figure validated by ISTAT