The name "Mulawarman" is taken from the legendary king Mulavarman Nala Dewa of the Kutai Martadipura Kingdom who ruled in the 4th-5th century CE, historically one of the earliest Hindu kingdoms in Indonesia, located in current Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan.

[4] Then the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture approved the establishment as Universitas Mulawarman on September 28, 1962[5] and officially confirmed by the President on April 23, 1963.

[2] Due to difficulty to find teaching staff, the Faculty of Mining, in Balikpapan, was closed in 1970.

[2] Several services are managed under technical operational units:[2][3] Academics Development Center (for teaching capacity improvement), Bukit Soeharto Research and Education Forest in Kutai Kartanegara and Penajam North Paser, Business Management Development, Center for Social Forestry,[24] Computer Center, Distance Learning Unit, Fundamental Science Laboratory, Language Center (in Flores campus, providing courses of foreign language, especially English), Library of Universitas Mulawarman (with more than 90,000 titles), Personality Development Unit, Quality Assurance, and Universitas Mulawarman Samarinda Botanical Garden in North Samarinda.

There are several students activity unit, such as: (Music) Band, Football, IMAPA (environmental preservation, adventuring, forest mountaineering, rock climbing, and rafting), Journalism, KBMK (Christian religious activities) KSR (volunteering, in cooperation with the Indonesian Red Cross), PUSDIMA (Islamic dakwah center), PSM (university student choir), Pramuka (scouting), Softball, Taekwondo and Yupa Theater.

[2] The Research Institute of Universitas Mulawarman is the backbone of the science and technology development in Kalimantan.