Ukrainian Free University (Ukrains'kyi Vil'nyi Universytet, UVU) was founded on January 17, 1921, in Vienna, Austria, through the efforts of the Union of Ukrainian Journalists and Writers Abroad, the Sociological Institute, and the Society of Friends of Education in Vienna. The university was established to operate in parallel with the underground Ukrainian University in Lviv. Initial enrollment was low due to the concentration of Ukrainian emigrants in Prague and other areas of Czechoslovakia.

In September 1921, the UVU received official recognition from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education. The institution’s Prague period ended with the Soviet occupation of the city in May 1945. In 1946, the UVU was reestablished in Munich, Germany, under the initiative of V. Shcherbakivs’kyi, where it continued its mission of serving the Ukrainian academic and intellectual community.