The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of Andalas University was officially established in 1993 through the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 0348/0/1993 dated 22 October 1993. At the beginning of its establishment, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences only had two departments, namely the Department of Sociology and the Department of Anthropology which were previously under the Faculty of Letters, Andalas University. To complement the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences with the discipline of Political Science, steps were taken towards the establishment of a Political Science Study Programme which was then outlined through the Senate Decree of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of Andalas University Number 02/VIII/C/FISIP-1993 concerning Preparation for the Opening of a Political Science Study Programme.

On 7 August 1997 the Director General of Higher Education issued Decree No. 326/Dikti/Ket/1997 on the Establishment of the S1 Political Science Study Program at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of Andalas University. Thus, FISIP Andalas University has three Departments which are a strong foundation for further developing applied science (Applied Science) both in the Social Science discipline area and in Political Science.

In order to develop Social and Political Sciences at FISIP Unand, a committee was formed to establish the Department / Program of International Relations Studies of Andalas University chaired by Dra. Ranny Emilia, M.Phil based on the Decree of the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Andalas University Number: 18/sp/1/FISIP2006. The committee is tasked with formulating the format of the Department, and is in charge of managing the process of establishing the Department until the issuance of the establishment decree from DIKTI. One of the first steps taken by the committee is needs assessment by conducting a series of activities such as RTD (Round Table Discussion), Comparison to several IR Departments in Indonesia such as UNPAD, UGM, UI and UNPAR and also invited visiting Professor of International Relations from University Kebangsaan Malaysia, University Utara Malaysia besides that the committee also collected data from the website of foreign universities that have a field of study of international relations such as Australia National University, Leiden University, Aberyswith University and London School of Economic and Science as material for the preparation of competencies and curriculum of the Department / Program of International Relations Studies FISIP Andalas University.

The Round Table Discussion held on 20 May 2006 at Andalas University, involved various parties relevant to the Department of International Relations, such as foreign relations practitioners (there were several former diplomats and senior diplomats, such as Prof. Hasyim Djalal, DR. Boer Mauna, DR. Wisber Louis, Musma Musa Abbas, Alwis Azizat Murad), academics both from Unand and from outside, such as The Indonesian Institute which at that time was represented by Anies Baswedan, the media, and export and import entrepreneurs, etc. This event was conducted with the aim of exploring more deeply the needs of International Relations in Indonesia and West Sumatra in particular.

There are at least three main reasons for the establishment of this new Department / Study Programme:

First, The people of West Sumatra have a history of producing excellent diplomats. The Indonesian people felt their enormous contribution in maintaining independence, defending national interests and ensuring the integrity of the nation in international forums. Excellent diplomats are not born without context. The education they choose, their interests and talents are important factors in determining the outcome. The environment in which they live contributes to the development of people's personality, intelligence and dexterity in action. While West Sumatra was once recognised as the repository of Indonesia's diplomats, none of its educational institutions provide facilities to study and explore this knowledge.

Second, The existence of the Department / Study Programme of International Relations is not merely to produce diplomats. What is no less important is that researchers and teachers in this department will be able to produce an outline of the strategy of penetrating the role of West Sumatran society at the regional level (Southeast Asia) and the international level (Asia / Global), such as regional cooperation SiJoRi (Singapore, Johor and Riau), IMGT (Indonesia Malaysia Growth Triangle), ASEAN and other cooperation. Penetration in the economic and cultural fields is a very feasible step. The people of West Sumatra must open their eyes and see that their existence is not only part of the people of Sumatra or Indonesia, but also part of the world. Seeing that, the focus of the Department / Program of International Relations is not merely on how to anticipate foreign economic and cultural penetration, but rather on how to make West Sumatran society influential at the supra-national level. Seeing the potential of human resources and existing networks, what needs to be done now is to integrate the potential with the network in a vision of West Sumatra in the international arena.

Third, researchers and lecturers in the Department of International Relations can provide anticipatory analyses related to the international arena. The international economic and political situation is very dynamic. Its development can be rapid. Micro trends (such as oil prices or wars) are difficult to predict, but macro trends (such as the pace of trade or investment) can be studied and can often produce applicable blue-prints. The phenomenon in Banglore and Dalian, for example, is an example of the ability of analyses in these two regions to combine global economic trends with local potential. They seriously studied and successfully read economic and technological trends. Combined with the openness of the local government and the willingness and ability of local entrepreneurs, these precise analyses resulted in phenomenal local progress.

From a series of activities within the framework of the need assessment, several rationales were formulated for the development of the Department / Program of International Relations Studies being carried out by FISIP Unand at this time. namely to create people who have the following expertise and competencies:

Foreign Affairs

These skills include proficiency in formulating, analysing and offering solutions to foreign relations problems; shaping and developing foreign relations; using international decision-making bodies; including the laws, rules, and techniques of international negotiations and agreements.

Global Political Economy

This expertise includes the ability to formulate and address issues of Global Political Economy and its applications in the form of policies, decisions and practices of state and civil society. It also includes the development of concepts and theories to address globalisation issues such as terrorism, environmental degradation, poverty and hunger, and threats to world peace.

Diplomacy

The ability to negotiate, and make agreements with other nations both bilaterally and multilaterally and international forums. Competence in diplomacy will be emphasised on preventive diplomacy and cultural diplomacy.

After a series of activities above, the committee for the establishment of the Department of International Relations began to formulate the main ideas in the framework of the establishment of this department as outlined in the form of a proposal for the opening of the Department of International Relations. With a long process, the establishment of the Department of International Relations received support from the West Sumatra Provincial Government based on Recommendation Letter Number 421.3/297/Sospora-2007. Then at the Senate level, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences issued a recommendation letter number 363/J.16/PP/2007. After making several presentations of proposals in front of the Education Commission of the Senate of Andalas University on 22 January 2007 and 5 February 2007 as well as making several improvements to the proposal, the Senate of Andalas University issued a letter of approval for the establishment of the Department / Study Program of International Relations at Andalas University. 

The legal basis for the opening of the IHI PRODI was the Decree of the DIKJEN DIKTI NO: 1623/D/T2007 dated 6 July 2007 concerning the establishment of the IHI PRODI at UNAND. Furthermore, this decree has been strengthened by DKJEN DIKTI Decree NO: 2847/D/T/K-N/2009 about the operational period of IHI Study Programme at UNAND. Based on BAN-PT Decree No. 051/BAN-PT/Ak-XIV/S1 in 2012, the IHI study programme received accreditation B. This decree is valid until 27 January 2017. This achievement is very good in the age of the HI Study Programme which was only established in 2007. This achievement became milestone for the improvement of Prodi's performance in the future.