It has 15 colleges, one institute and two autonomous campuses offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses specializing in accounting, education, engineering, nursing, arts and humanities, social work, science and mathematics.

WMSU ranked sixth among 68 universities all over the country, according to a survey on the Top Academic Institutions in the Philippines conducted by the Commission on Higher Education.

Until the end of school year 1939–1940, the general secondary academic and normal curricula continued to be simultaneously offered.

As a result of the opening of the Zamboanga City High School in 1939, the general secondary academic curriculum was discontinued but was offered at the college level.

3272,[2] the Zamboanga Normal College was placed under the direct supervision of the Bureau of Public Schools (BPS) until its autonomy in 1963.

The Zamboanga del Norte Agricultural College was the former name of the Tampilisan campus of Western Mindanao State University.

Considering the demands of a growing population in a rapidly changing society and upon the initiative of Western Mindanao Regional Commissioner Rear Admiral Romulo Espaldon, President Ferdinand E. Marcos signed Presidential Decree No.