Universitas Samudra was founded on the initiation of a private university managed by the Samudra Education Foundation and is domiciled in Langsa City. Therefore, this private university was originally known and given the name Universitas Samudra Langsa. The university, which was previously part of the East Aceh Regency, was started by its founders in 1963. At that time, an organization called Al-Jamiatul Wasliyah, East Aceh Branch, took the initiative to establish a college institution called the Malikul Saleh Faculty of Economics. The campus is still affiliated with Medan Alwasliyah University, North Sumatra in the field of education and teaching.

Several community leaders and intellectuals also happened to be members of the East Aceh DPRD (1970) at the time. The community leaders together with the Regional Government then took the initiative to establish a New College. This was followed up by establishing a Langsa State Preparatory College Foundation formed in 1971. The first step taken was to hold a meeting and consultation with the Chancellor of Syiah Kuala University, which at that time was held by the late Prof. Drs. A. Majid Ibrahim.

The consultation is aimed at exploring the possibility of opening a new College Institution as well as formulating an effective cooperative relationship to support the smooth and sustainable operation of the institution later. Based on the results of the consultation, the foundation decided to establish a State Preparatory Teaching Faculty (FKPN) by opening two departments, the Law Civics Department and the English Language Department.

Preparations to meet the requirements set by the government have been addressed and fulfilled as best as possible. At that time, the hope was that they would be affiliated with the Teaching Faculty of Syiah Kuala University (USK) in Darussalam, Banda Aceh. The affiliation process ultimately did not get approval from the new Chancellor of Syiah Kuala University, even though the development of the institution at that time had shown much progress from before based on the results of the USK evaluation team’s assessment.

To overcome this problem, in 1976 two new higher schools were opened, namely the College of Law and Community Knowledge (STHPM) and the College of Economics (STE). Through a long process, in 1981 the two tertiary institutions obtained registered status which was realized through the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia Numbers 01998 and 0199 of 1981. The subsequent process underwent many developments. The two High Schools were merged to become the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Economics. Two new faculties were added namely the Faculty of Agriculture and the Teaching and Education Faculty. These four Faculties were then approved for realization through the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia Number 0477/0/1985 dated 22 October 1985.

Since then the private tertiary institution managed by the Samudra Education Foundation has officially started its academic activities in a college institution named Universitas Samudra Langsa. Unsam Langsa has been able to carry out activities on the elements of the Tri Dharma of College which include education and teaching, research, and community service, which are operationally carried out through 7 (seven) Study Programs.

In 1990/1992 Universitas Samudra Langsa added one more Faculty, namely the Faculty of Engineering with 3 Study Programs. Not only the Faculty of Engineering, but Unsam also added a Study Program at the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education Sciences(FKIP), namely the English Education Study Program.

The process of changing from Universitas Samudra Langsa, which is a private university to a state university, has indeed been taken through a long and winding road. This idea had been drafted since 2004. After the proposal was submitted in 2005 to the Minister of National Education, Bambang Sudibyo actually rejected the nationalization of Unsam on the grounds that there was not enough budget available. Then, in 2008 the management of Universitas Samudra Langsa at that time together with the Samudra Education Foundation returned to consult the College for an audience with the Director General of the College who was held by Dr. Fasli Jalal, Sp, GK, Ph.D. Since then the process of nationalizing Unsam has started to move again.

After learning about the requirements for nationalizing a tertiary institution in the audience, UNSAM begins to prepare all the requirements requested by the Directorate of College. In the course of its history after 40 years of work, finally, all the dreams and hopes of the people of East Aceh, Langsa City, and Aceh Tamiang to have a PTN has come true. On May 13, 2013, Presidential Regulation Number 37 of 2013 was signed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. That year a new PTN was born in the name of Samudra University. The new PTN named Universitas Samudra (Unsam) was inaugurated by the Minister of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia on June 4, 2013. The first Chancellor of Samudra University after having state status was Drs. H. Bachtiar Akob, M.Pd. Now in the 2021-2025 period, the Chancellor of Universitas Samudra is under the leadership of Dr. Ir. Hamdani, MT., IPM.