ITS has been expanding its educational disciplines beyond sciences and engineering into fields such as arts, business management, and development studies.

In its early years, Angka Nitisastro, a medical doctor who became the first Rector of ITS, announced the student registration from his clinic.

Following the suggestion of Indonesian Foreign Minister Ruslan Abdulgani (1914–2005), the establishment charter of ITS was signed by Sukarno (1901–1970), the first president of Republic of Indonesia.

[14] Muhammad Nuh initiated Indonesia's first undergraduate program Biomedical Engineering in 2007, which historically reconnect ITS to its early years when the newly born institute was led by a medical doctor, Angka Nitisastro.

Its main campus is located at Sukolilo, wherein all undergraduate programs are delivered, along with the postgraduate buildings, administrative building, main library, faculties housing, student community center, central cafeteria, football stadium, jogging track, and student dormitory that can accommodate 1200 freshmen.

Within this unique system, undergraduate student must pass the minimum numbers of required credit of social engagement in order to graduate from the institute.

Undergraduate students are supervised by selected faculty members in technological project that deals with environmental or social issues for local, national, or international scale.

Involvement in national and international competition are encouraged in order to integrate in-class learning and out-of-class impact.

ITS is famous for its winning-spirit ethos, as students, led and supervised by selected faculty members, are tirelessly competing in national and international level.

ITS launched Indonesia's first solar-powered ship, and took part in a world competition, Dong Energy Challenge, in 2014 in the Netherlands.

[22] In the same year, a team of students (Barunastra) was given The Second Runner Up and Best Speed and Maneuverability at 9TH Annual International RoboBoat Competition - AUVSI Foundation in Virginia, USA.

[26] A year later, ITS (Sapu Angin Speed) won the Best Rookie Award of ICV at Student Formula Japan.

[28] 2015, ITS won the Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) Asia 2015, in Manila, the Philippines, in the urban concept diesel category.

[10][11] The QS Asia University Rangkings 2024 has ranked Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS Surabaya) as number 146.