Initially, the foundation provided only one department, which was the Faculty of Medicine, established on August 20, 1952, now commemorated as the anniversary of USU.

The foundation was managed by a board, chaired by the governor of North Sumatra, with the following composition: The desire to establish a public university in Medan began before the World War II, but it was not approved by the Dutch colonial government who ruled Indonesia at the time.

During the Japanese occupation after the fall of the Dutch colonialism, some prominent people in the Indonesian medicine field, such as Dr. Pirngadi and Dr. T. Mansoer, drafted a plan for a medical school.

As a result of the cooperation, moral and material assistance from the entire community of the North Sumatera province at that time, including the Special Territory of Aceh, the Faculty of Medicine was successfully established on August 20, 1952.

On November 20, 1957, the first president of the Republic of Indonesia, Sukarno, inaugurated the University of North Sumatra (with "USU" as the acronym in the local language).

The inauguration date was set as the Dies Natalis USU (the anniversary of the University of North Sumatra), and commemorated every year until 2001.

Today the University of North Sumatra provides more than one hundred study programs, consisted of various levels of higher education, covered in ten faculties and one graduate department.