APU was established in 2000 through the collaboration of three parties from the public and private sectors: Ōita Prefecture, Beppu City, and the Ritsumeikan Trust.

The university has an enrollment of about 5,850, including approximately 2,900 domestic, and 2,900 international students (a 50–50 domestic-international ratio) originating from 90 countries and regions.

The Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University is located in Beppu, Ōita, on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan.

In the early 1990s the concept of creating an international university in the city of Beppu was first raised by the governor of Ōita Prefecture, Morihiko Hiramatsu, with the then chancellor of the Ritsumeikan Trust in Kyoto, Mr Kawamoto.

The university was founded on the ideals of "freedom, peace, humanity, international mutual understanding, and the future shape of the Asia-Pacific region."

APU practices a bilingual education system in English and Japanese, in a multicultural and multilingual environment in which about half of the teachers are foreign nationals.

Six languages in the Asia-Pacific region are offered, from introductory to advanced, in Chinese, Korean, Malay / Indonesian, Spanish, Thai, and Vietnamese.

[7] In terms of country of origin, the majority of international students come from eastern Asia, namely South Korea (499 as of 1 November 2016), Vietnam (476), China (437), Indonesia (346), Thailand (281), and Bangladesh (87).

[8] The library provides paper-based as well as electronic media including, academic databases, magazines, newspaper, textbooks, and DVD.