Salamanca, University of, at Salamanca, Spain; founded 1218 by Alfonso IX of León, reorganized 1254 by Alfonso X of Castile and León. It has faculties of philosophy, philology, geography and history, sciences, economic sciences, psychology, chemistry, biology, fine arts, law, medicine, and pharmacy. It also has schools of business, nursing, library science, social studies, and social work and an institute of educational sciences. There are university colleges at Avila and Zamora; the Polytechnic Institute of Zamora is affiliated.