The University of Port Harcourt is located in Aluu and Choba in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, it is located in South-South (Niger-Delta) region of Nigeria. It was established in 1975 as University College, Port Harcourt and was given university status in 1977. The University of Port Harcourt was ranked the sixth in Africa and the first in Nigeria by Times Higher Education in 2015. In July 2021, Prof. George Owunari was appointed substantive Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Port Harcourt is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is located in the oil rich Niger Delta. As of 2023, Port Harcourt's urban population is estimated at 3,480,000. The population of the metropolitan area of Port Harcourt is almost twice its urban area population with a 2015 United Nations estimate of 2,344,000. In 1950, the population of Port Harcourt was 59,752. Port Harcourt has grown by 150,844 since 2015, which represents a 4.99% annual change.