The preposition de can express the initial point of a movement. It answers the question ¿De dónde? (Where from?):
de Madrid – from Madrid
de la Universidad – from the University
The combination de… a… means from... to... and can be used
in spatial or temporal sense:
de Madrid a Barcelona – from Madrid to Barcelona
de 9 a 2 – from 9.00 to 2.00
Note that in the last case the article las drops out.
You can learn more about Spanish prepositions
here.