The university is named after the Toros Mountains (Turkish: Toros Dağları), a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau.

Toros University was officially founded on July 23, 2009 by the Mersin Education Foundation (Turkish: Mersin Eğitim Vakfı), an active educational foundation which was founded in 1979 in Mersin by a group of idealistic teachers who aimed to provide educational services.

Toros University accepted its first students for the academic year of 2009–2010.

All five campuses are centrally located in Mersin Province.

Toros University comprises four faculties, two vocational schools and a graduate institute.