St. Matthew's University is owned by R3 Education, Inc.[3] SMU was founded in Belize in 1997 by Dr. Michael Harris and other medical doctors.

[citation needed] In the United States, the medical board of Kansas restricts St. Matthew's University graduates from obtaining licensure.

[15] In the United Kingdom, the General Medical Council has listed St. Matthew's University as an institution whose graduates from the Belize campus (closed in 2002) are ineligible for licensure.

[16] The US Department of Education reports that the median student loan debt of Americans who attended the school was $247,074 in 2022.

[17] The Residence Hall is a two-story former tourist hotel building in the 7-mile (11 km) beach area that has been repurposed for student housing.

New students arriving on the island are encouraged to live in the St. Matthew's University Residence Hall during their first semester.

[18] The PAVE qualifying exam is written or online and intended to test the knowledge of students in foreign veterinary schools.

[22] Members of the dual degree program receive benefits that include qualification for Title IV federal student aid (for U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens), receiving partnership tuition rates for the entire program, advancing the student's career with two degrees as a doctor of veterinary medicine and an MBA, and the ability to apply up to 15 transferable graduate credits.

[17] Pass rates of its students and graduates on the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) in calendar year 2023 were as follows: [17]