The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. With more than 32,000 students, it's the largest university in South Australia. The university was formed in 1991 with the merger of the South Australian Institute of Technology (1889) and College of Advanced Education (1856), combining more than 150 years of teaching and research history. The legislation to establish and name the new University of South Australia was introduced by the Hon Mike Rann MP, Minister of Employment and Further Education.

Under the University's Act, its original mission was "to preserve, extend and disseminate knowledge through teaching, research, scholarship and consultancy, and to provide educational programs that will enhance the diverse cultural life of the wider community".

The University of South Australia is among the world's top universities, ranked within the top 300 universities worldwide by the QS World University Ranking and top 15 nationally in research outcomes.  In 2015, UniSA was named as one of the world’s best young universities ranked in the world’s top 50 under 50 at #25 by Quacarelli Symonds and #38 by Times Higher Education.

The University is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities. It has two Adelaide city centre campuses, two Adelaide metropolitan campuses, and two South Australian regional campuses.