The only public university (Perguruan Tinggi Negeri) in South Papua, it is located at the southeastern corner of the Merauke main town and next to its airport.

Their first cohort of 99 earned diploma degrees in 2005, and in the same year feasibility studies began for its conversion into a university.

[1] More recently, there have been complaints about the underrepresentation of native Papuan people in the university's teaching staff.

[2] In 2016, the rectorate election of UNMUS was postponed by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti) due to irregularities in the voting university senate.

The university provided 260 slots across all programs for the latter's exam-based selection for 2017 intake.