| 1431 - 1448 | During the Council of Basil, a council and curia university – an institution directly tied to the papal curia and serving the educational needs of the clergy, theologians, and other attendees of the council – is established. |
| 1459 | 12 November: Pope Pius II issues the Founding Charter for the University of Basel in Mantua. |
| 1460 | 4 April: opening ceremony of the university with a religious service in the Basel Cathedral |
| 1460 | 28 May: the Basel City Council issues the Letter of Freedoms for the university. |
| 1460 | 6 September: the university commits not to abuse the privileges granted by the city. |
| 1477 | Complete revision of the statutes |
| 1494 - 1507 | The university faces a crisis lasting several years; reform discussions in 1507 lead to a financial readjustment of the city’s contribution. |
| 1523 | The City Council withdraws the salaries of four professors because of their attacks on supporters of the Reformation and appoints Oekolampad and Pellikan as professors of theology. |
| 1529 | Due to the introduction of the Reformation, many instructors and professors move to Freiburg im Breisgau. |
| 1529 | June: the reformed council suspends the university and confiscates the university’s scepter, seals, statute books, charters of privileges, and cash assets. |
| 1529 - 1532 | Interregnum: a number of professors continue to teach. |
| 1531 | Rector Oswald Bär conducts the first public anatomical dissection in Basel. |
| 1532 | September: with the issuance of new statutes, the university is placed under the City Council’s control. |
| 1532 | November: reopening of the reformed university |
| 1533 | The City Council establishes a scholarship for poor boys funded by church and school property. |
| 1538 | The Erasmus Foundation is established to support needy students. |
| 1539 | By revising the university’s statutes, the City Council restores and extends the university’s rights of self-governance and, in particular, integrates the clergy of the Faculty of Theology. |
| 16th c. | After 1550: the university becomes a fashionable destination for men studying to become doctors and lawyers, with international appeal. |
| 1558 | Book censorship is transferred by the City Council to the university’s rector and four deans. |
| 1560 | The library is newly set up in the Brabeuterium. |
| 1579 | A financial scandal, caused by the professor of medicine Isaak Keller, is uncovered at the university. |
| 1588 | An anatomical theater and a “hortus medicus” (later, a botanical garden) are established. |
| 1590 | Substantial expansion of the university library through the integration of 2,700 books from former monastery libraries |
| 1637 | The city physician Matthias Harscher is suspended as professor of eloquence for marrying a Catholic and subsequently reinstated in the same position in 1641. |
| 1659 | As part of reforms in university teaching, the first chair for history is established, and the teaching of logic is reorganized. |
| 1660 | 4 April: on the bicentenary of its founding, the university celebrates a university anniversary for the first time. |
| 1661 | Basel buys the Amerbach cabinet on behalf of the university, thus laying the foundation for the city’s first public museum. |
| 1671 | The decades-long dispute over university privileges and jurisdiction ends with the introduction of a new loyalty oath for academic citizens vis-à-vis the City Council. |
| 1681 | Course catalog begins to be published regularly. |
| 1688 | The election of professors by ballot (secret election with balls) becomes law. |
| 1718 | Introduction of lots in professorial elections |
| 1757 | Isaak Iselin writes the Reformation treatise "Unprejudiced Thoughts on the Improvement of the B… Institution of Higher Learning" after discussions on university reform were held throughout the century without producing any significant, conclusive results. |
| 1760 | 15 April: the university celebrates its third centennial. |
| 1798 | The university is placed under the authority of the city’s Board of Education. |
| 1813 | The Grand Council abolishes the previous statutes and privileges and decides on a thorough reorganization. |
| 1818 | 17 June: with the new University Act, the university loses its last privileges and becomes entirely subordinated to state authority. |
| 1822 | Publication of the course catalog in Latin ceases, replaced by German. |
| 1833 | The division of assets necessitated by the cantonal separation threatens the university’s existence. |
| 1835 | 9 April: new University Act |
| 1835 | Founding of the Voluntary Academic Society for the Support of the University |
| 1835 | 1 October: inauguration of the reestablished university |
| 1836 | Founding of the Academic Guild as the sixteenth guild |
| 1851 | The Grand Council rejects a proposal to abolish the university in favor of a trade school. |
| 1860 | 6 and 7 September: the university celebrates the 400th anniversary. |
| 1866 | 330 January: new University Act (increase in the number of professorships and salary) |
| 1872 | Admission of women to study is refused. |
| 1890 | Women allowed to study at the university. Emilie Frey begins studying medicine, leading to a doctorate in 1896. |
| 1910 | 23–25 June: the university celebrates its 450th anniversary. |
| 1918 | Founding of the Student Union as an official representative body |
| 1919 | Founding of the Volkshochschule, an institution affiliated with the university and dedicated to educating adults from the general population |
| 1928 | First habilitation of a woman (a second thesis with the right and obligation to teach at the university): Elsa Mahler becomes a private lecturer in Slavic studies. In 1964, her successor Hildegard Schroeder becomes the first woman to hold a full professorship. |
| 1937 | 14 January: a new University Act creates fifty-one statutory professorships. In addition to the four existing faculties, a new Faculty of Philosophy and Natural Science (Philosophisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät), today known as the Faculty of Science, is established. |
| 1939 | New Lecture building opened |
| 1950 | The chemist Tadeus Reichstein receives the Nobel Prize. |
| 1960 | 29 June–2 August: the university celebrates its 500th anniversary. |
| 1966 | Introduction of a flat-rate college fee |
| 1967 | Beginning of debate on a revision of the University Act of 1937 |
| 1969 | After the rejection of the reunification of the two half-cantons (Basel-Stadt and Basel-Land), new forms of joint sponsorship and funding for the university must be found. |
| 1970 | A coordination commission is created to improve operational planning. |
| 1971 | The Senate (previously a body composed entirely of full professors) is expanded to include representation of all groups (the new composition: twenty-four members representing full professors; three groups of eight members representing associate professors, private lecturers, and assistants; twelve members representing students; and one member from the university administration). |
| 1971 | Inauguration of the Biocenter/Center for Molacular Life Sciences |
| 1974 | Abolition of mandatory membership in the Student Union |
| 1974 | Legal basis for admission restrictions (numerus clausus) |
| 1976 | 13 June: referendum in the canton of Basel-Land, a majority votes to participate in the university. |
| 1978 | Microbiologist Werner Arber receives the Nobel Prize. |
| 1979 | Opening of the Senior University. |
| 1980 | 17 April: draft for a new University Act fails to win a majority in the Grand Council after eight years of committee deliberation (the vote was 29 to 29, with the tie-breaking vote cast by the president of the Grand Council). |
| 1984 | Abolition of irrevocable contracts for university lecturers |
| 1988 | The Senate establishes the “Women at the University” commission; subsequently, targets for minimum quotas are formulated. |
| 1989 | Founding member of the European Confederation of Upper Rhine Universities (EUCOR). |
| 1991 | Hayek structural analysis as a precondition for further participation of the canton of Basel-Land in the sponsorship of the university, introduction of departmental structures within the university. |
| 1993 | Mission statement of the University of Basel, founding of the Association for the Promotion of the University of Basel |
| 1994 | 30 March: renewal of agreement regarding the university between the cantons of Basel-City and Basel-Land |
| 1996 | 1 January: new University Act enters into force. University is divorced from the cantonal administration; introduction of autonomy, with new support from Basel-Land. |
| 1997 | Founding of the Faculty of Business and Economics |
| 2000 | Opening of the Pharmaceutical Center |
| 2000 | The Bologna system of study, adopted in 1999 within the framework of the EU, begins to be implemented step by step. In the winter semester 2006/07, the University of Basel becomes the first comprehensive university in Switzerland to implement the reform. |
| 2003 | Founding of the Faculty of Psychology |
| 2003 | Portfolio cost-saving exercise |
| 2004 | Founding of the Children’s University |
| 2007 | 11 March: in a referendum, the canton of Basel-Land agrees to equal university sponsorship. |
| 2010 | The university celebrates its 550th anniversary with a year-round program. |
