In 1901 five national medical schools were established in Chiba, Sendai, Okayama, Kanazawa and Nagasaki.

[4] The municipal and prefectural governments of Niigata demanded a national medical school from the Ministry of Education, but the plan was deferred because of the Russo-Japanese War.

The university was inaugurated with the Faculties of Humanities, Education, Science, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture.

In a building next to Niigata Station there is a small campus named Tokimate (ときめいと, former "CLLIC"), whose main purpose is to offer courses of lifelong learning for adults.

The emblem of the university is called "Rikka" (六華), a symbolized shape of a snow crystal.