Weronika Gospodarczyk, 23, a Polish student, suffered 44 wounds when she was attacked at her Sheffield flat by her boyfriend Colin Campbell.
At the city's crown court, Campbell, 29, of Clinton Walk, Sheffield, had admitted murder.
He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years.
The court heard Campbell had murdered Miss Gospodarczyk on 24 September after she told him they wanted to split up and then received a text message from a friend.
Campbell repeatedly stabbed her with a kitchen knife.
He later told lawyers he was "mystified" by what had happened.
Sentencing Campbell, the judge, Mrs Justice Rafferty, said: "This was an attack, founded in resentment and jealousy, on a young woman whom you sought to possess."
The court was told the couple first met when Miss Gospodarczyk, who is from the Polish city of Radom, visited Sheffield on a school exchange trip in 2005.
She returned to study tourism management at Sheffield Hallam University and met Campbell again in a nightclub.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-12241253 