It was built with the help of France and opened in 1962 as the Federal University of Yaoundé, dropping the "Federal" in 1972 when the country was reorganized.
In 1993 following a university reform the University of Yaounde was split into two (University of Yaoundé I and University of Yaoundé II) following the university branch-model pioneered by the University of Paris.
The Minister of Higher Education, Prof JacquesFameNdongo hailed the University of Yaounde II and indicated that the classification will encourage other universities to work even harder. According to the classification, the University of Dschang came second and is followed by the University of Buea in the third position ... .