The University of Porto was founded by decree of March 22, 1911, issued by the Provisional Government of the First Portuguese Republic. While it is possible to point the university's predecessors as the Nautical Academy, established by King Joseph I in 1762, and the Drawing and Sketching Academy, created by Queen Mary I in 1779, the university was to be based primarily on higher education institutions created in the nineteenth century, namely the Polytechnic Academy and Medical-Surgical Academy of Porto.