ECLA of Bard was founded in 1999 as the European College of Liberal Arts (ECLA), with the aim of creating a first-rate liberal arts institution in Europe.  Over the years it established itself as an institution with an uncompromising profile, attracting excellent students from around the world. A major step toward the achievement of acknowledgement in the academic world came with the Berlin Senate’s recognition of ECLA as a university in 2011. ECLA’s merger with Bard College, in the same year, is another milestone, uniting ECLA with a leading American liberal arts college. Bard’s well-known strengths in civic engagement and extensive international dual-degree partnership programs offer opportunities for exploration and connection to students and faculty throughout the Bard network (Russia, South Africa, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, the West Bank, and the United States).

ECLA was founded in 1999 as a non-profit association (gemeinnütziger Verein) by German intellectuals and entrepreneurs interested in liberal arts education. The association created a summer school programme. Under the leadership of Stefan Gutzeit, who had studied at Stanford and Harvard, ECLA's first International Summer University was held with great success in 2000 at the Hufeland Campus in Berlin-Buch. Further summer school sessions were held with success in 2001 and 2002.

The 2002-2003 academic year was very significant for ECLA's development. The college became a non-profit organization (gGmbh) and introduced its first one-year programme. Under the leadership of Erika Anita Kiss, who brought experience from Harvard and Oxford to the project, ECLA introduced the Foundation Year Programme (which later became the Academy Year Programme). Following extensive interviews in Berlin, Oxford and New York, seven new faculty members were recruited to develop and teach a yearlong, interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum dominated by philosophy, literature, political theory and visual arts. From the beginning the programme attracted talented students, ready not just for intensive reading and writing, but also for reflection on the meaning of liberal education. Ongoing discussions among faculty and students about the nature and significance of liberal education are an essential part of the institution’s identity.

In 2003, ECLA secured further support from the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, led by Julie J. Kidd, which was already a major sponsor of ECLA’s first full-year programme.  The foundation would play a key role in ECLA’s development over the next eight years. Peter Hajnal and Thomas Nørgaard became Programme Directors responsible for curricular development and the introduction of a new one-year programme that continues today as the Project Year.

In 2003-2004, ECLA moved to its present campus in Berlin Niederschönhausen, with Richard Shriver acting as ECLA's Provost and Managing Director (2002-2005). Shriver, who is now Provost Emeritus, brought invaluable business experience to the project and played a crucial role in the acquisition and renovation of several buildings that became ECLA's campus, as well as in shaping the institution’s organizational structure. From 2004-2007, Laurent Boetsch served as ECLA's President. Boetsch, who is now President Emeritus, brought expertise from American college administration to the project, helped ECLA with the first stage of the accreditation process, and made significant contributions to recruitment and partnership initiatives at ECLA.  From 2007 to July 2012, Peter Hajnal and Thomas Nørgaard served as Co-Deans of the College and of Academic Affairs. They led the joint faculty work on a new 'value questions' approach to liberal education, and helped launch the BA in Value Studies.

In 2009, ECLA celebrated both the 10th International Summer University and the introduction of the new BA in Value Studies. In February 2011, ECLA received state recognition as a private university by Berlin’s Senatsverwaltung für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Forschung (Senate Administration of Education, Science and Research).

In November 2011 the ownership of ECLA European College of Liberal Arts in Berlin, Germany, was transferred to Bard College by the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation. The name was subsequently changed to ECLA of Bard, a Liberal Arts University. In August 2012, Prof. Dr. Thomas Rommel joined ECLA of Bard as Rector and Provost. As part of Bard College, ECLA of Bard now finds itself in another exciting period of expansion with the launch of the Bard in Berlin programme and new exchange opportunities for students.