It is located in western Rio Grande do Sul, approximately 290 km far from the capital city of the state, Porto Alegre, thus being set in the heart of the pampas of Brazil.

Like most other Brazilian higher education institutions, the admission for undergraduate courses in UFSM is mainly based on an annual open test called vestibular.

UFSM offers also a serial admission program, called PEIES (or Programa de Ingresso ao Ensino Superior), which consists of a multiple-choice exam applied at the end of each of the three years of Brazilian high school, plus a written essay only in the third year.

In Santa Maria, however, the courses of Law, Business, Accounting, Psychology, Economics, International Relations, and Dentistry are still offered off-campus, in the city centre.

UFSM is a center for studies of paleontology, since the city of Santa Maria sits on a deposit of fossils.