The university originated from a recommendation given by the Second Vatican Council to use educational activities in favor of teaching the principles of the Catholic doctrine.

The Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus had worked in Monterrey since 1908, and the Sisters of Immaculate Mary of Guadalupe established Labastida Unity in 1951.

On July 8, 1969, the university was recognized by the state of Nuevo Leon, and on September 8 of the same year, it began operating as an educational institution housed in five different facilities.

[3] In 1979, Mexican philanthropist Roberto Garza Sada formed the Association for Educational Development, which sole purpose was to buy 35 acres of land on which they would build the actual campus for UDEM.

In January 2004, the Rector's building was constructed, which houses the dean's offices, the Center for Information and Student Attention (Centro de Información y Atención a Alumnos; CIAA), among other facilities.

A red and black sculpture called La Serpentina adorns the main plaza of the building, it was created by Fernando González Gortázar,[15] an artist from Guadalajara.

Inaugurated in 1999 by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, CCU stands for Centro de la Comunidad Universitaria and translates to College Community Center.

The CCU is a recreational area for students which also houses the Culture department (in charge of all artistic events within the University or by the University's alumni), the Pastoral Care department, the student council headquarters, a small chapel, the cafeteria, the music rooms, an auditorium, a common room, and the film club.

[17] The building, inaugurated in May 2019 by the Mexican architect Tatiana Bilbao, is located to the west of the campus and has approximately 90 thousand square meters of construction, which accommodates student and coexistence areas and UDEM offices for customer service, in addition to Continuing Education rooms.

[21] The center was built according to the standards of ACCT (Association for Challenge Course Technology), which regulates the quality in this type of structures and counts with qualified instructors.

Launched in 1995 and located in the south of the university campus, it offers International Bachelor's degreea (BI) that combine science and humanities.

The USP was placed, in the Enlace National Assessment, within the three percent of the best schools in Mexico in 2012 and share the facilities of the professional of the University of Monterrey.

The university has varsity teams in soccer, futsal, basketball, volleyball, track and field, swimming, Taekwondo, archery and tennis.