It was founded in 1995, as part of the Educational Corporation San Ignacio de Loyola, by Raúl Diez Canseco.

Four decentralized campuses in Pachacamac, Huachipa, Independencia, and Magdalena, provide additional infrastructure for lectures, research, workshops, and sport facilities.

Historically, USIL has focused on business, management, and entrepreneurship;[3] however, in recent years, it has expanded significantly in the fields of Education, Engineering and Health Sciences.

Lectures were initially given in the parochial hall of Nuestra Señora de Fatima church in Miraflores, by authorization of José Antonio Eguilior, a priest of the Jesuit order.

It has an extension of 18,600 m2, and provides infrastructure for most faculties, the offices for the School of Postgraduate Studies, the Centre for Global Education and the Chaplaincy.

It houses multiple laboratories for the Faculty of Engineering, including the Agroindustrial Plant, and the Institute for Food Sciences and Nutrition (ICAN).

It has an extension of 2.5 hectares and it is used for sport events, festivals and other general recreation activities for the students and staff.USIL is part of the San Ignacio de Loyola Educational Corporation which operates as the highest administrative body for the university.

The corporation is led by the Founder-President Raúl Diez Canseco, the Executive-President Luciana de la Fuente-Carmelino, the Chief Executive Officer Juan Manuel Ostoja, and the Consulting Council comprising ten esteemed members with notable international careers.

USIL houses the Center for Global Education, which offers a unique programme that allow students to begin their bachelor studies in Lima and complete them at prestigious universities in Australia, Canada, the UK, or the USA.

The Center for Language Studies provides to the college community the necessary infrastructure and learning programmes for English, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, and Spanish.