It attained full university status on 25 October 2007 and was launched as such by John Agyekum Kufuor, former President of the Republic of Ghana.

On 1 October 1982, the Government of Ghana promulgated the Regional Maritime Law 1982, which was followed by the signing of the instrument of transfer, handing over the college to the then Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States on Maritime Transport (MINCONMAR), now known as Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), which negotiated for its regionalization.

[1] Regionalization of the academy was for cooperation, particularly with regard to the training of personnel to ensure the sustained growth and development of maritime industries in the sub-region and beyond.

The academy in Ghana serves the Anglophone countries while a sister academy in Ivory Coast (L'Académie Régionale des Sciences et Techniques de la Mer – ARSTM) serves the Francophone countries.

The Regional Maritime University is an international tertiary institution and private university founded by the Republics of Cameroon, The Gambia, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone..[1] The RMU occupies the premises of the old Ghana Nautical College which was established in 1958 to train ratings for the erstwhile State Shipping Corporation (Black Star Line).