The university was formerly known as Pusat Latihan Staf Politeknik ( PLSP ) which was established on September 16 , 1993. The core business of PLSP then was to train and produce polytechnics academic staff to become knowledgeable and skilful in various engineering fields. The training institute was jointly administered by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and the Ministry of Education Malaysia.

Three years later , PLSP was upgraded to Institut Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn ( ITTHO ). Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak who was then the Minister of Education made the official announcement of the new status on April 12 , 1996. This promotion was an acknowledgment of the institution’s excellence in producing human resources for technical education.

On September 27 , 2000 , the institute achieved another milestone when the Malaysian government agreed to award a university-college status to the institute. This status served to recognise its contributions in the development of science and technology as well as its role in helping the nation to achieve its aspirations. With its new status , the institution was renamed as Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn ( KUiTTHO ) and the official announcement was made by Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Musa bin Mohamed , the then Minister of Education.

KUiTTHO continued to progress and produce skilful , knowledgeable and competitive graduates. Consequently , the Malaysian government , on September 20 , 2006 , agreed to award the university-college a full university status and changed its name to Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. On February 1 , 2007 , Datuk Mustapha Mohamed , the Minister of Higher Education officially announced the change of status. Subsequently , Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Onn made the official declaration of the change of name on March 2 , 2007.