Universitas Semarang was established on 23 June 1987 with the initial form of polytechnic (Politeknik Semarang) which has 4 diploma study programs: Diploma in Registrar of Law, Diploma in Corporate Management, Diploma in Hydro Civil Engineering, and Diploma in Agricultural Product Technology. In 1994, Politeknik Semarang officially converted to  a university with the name Universitas Semarang (USM) which currently has 15 study programs, as follows: Diploma in Corporate Management, Bachelor of Law, Bachelor of Management, Bachelor of Accounting, Bachelor of Civil Engineering, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering, Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning, Bachelor of Agricultural Product Technology, Bachelor of Psychology, Bachelor of Information Systems, Bachelor of Informatics Engineering, Bachelor of Communication Sciences, Master in Management, Master in Law and Master in Psychology.

Initially USM used 2 campuses, Campus I (with 3,000 m2 area) located in the downtown (Jl. Admodirono No. 11), Campus III (27,721 m2 area) on Jl. Soekarno-Hatta, Tlogosari which is located for about 3 km east of Semarang’s downtown. And campus II is situated in Mrican, which still consists of land area with 12,252 m2. However, in February 2010, all USM’s academic activities are centred on Campus III that consists of 8 building with 3 floors of each.

Currently, more than 22,000 students have chosen to study at USM in various study programs in either academic or vocational education. Research and community services activities are carried out annually as regular program, both funded by the Foundation of UNDIP Alumni/ USM or external institutions. These educational, research, and community services activities are supported by 354 lecturers and 173 supporting staffs who devote themselves as science and technology developers and seniors that needed by the community to increase their income. Most of the students in Central Java were accepted from East Java, West Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, and other provinces in Indonesia. To support lecturers and students’ ability to improve their knowledge and scientific work, USM has 27 student activity units (which abbreviated as UKM). These UKM’s activities have made many achievements at the regional, national, and international levels. Other facilities provided include Student Activity Centre (PKM), Language Training Centre (LTC), International Office (IO), Sports Centre (Gelora), basketball court, volleyball court, polyclinic, canteen, KOPIMA, BNI bank / ATM, mosque, internet cafe, and others.