The Miguel Hernández University, is a Spanish Public University offering education, research and services facilitating the comprehensive development of its students. It is located in the province of Alicante and was established in 1996. Its name commemorates the Spanish poet Miguel Hernández.

Miguel Hernández Gilabert was a 20th-century Spanish-language poet and playwright associated with the Generation of '27 and the Generation of '36 movements. Born and raised in a family of low resources, he was self-taught in what refers to literature, and struggled against an unfavourable environment to build up his intellectual education, such as a father who physically abused him for spending time with books instead of working, and who took him out of school as soon as he finished his primary education. At school, he became a friend of Ramón Sijé, a well-educated boy who lent and recommended books to Hernández, and whose death would inspire his most famous poem, Elegy.