By 1978 the University began its academic activities with three faculties: the "Dr. Isidro Menéndez" Faculty of Jurisprudence and Social Sciences; the "Dr. Santiago I. Barberena" Faculty of Economics and the "Francisco Gavidia" Faculty of General Culture and Fine Arts. Following the events of the Salvadoran Civil War, the University continued its activities despite the circumstances of the conflict, ingreasing the demand of higher education at the time where new faculties and careers developed. It was geographically decentralized during its early years in San Salvador, but was brought together on a single location (the current campus, in the municipality of Antiguo Cuscatlán) in 1986; in 1992 the faculties of Agriculture and Engineering were created and then in 1993 with the faculty of Health Sciences. Between 2004 and 2005 a second campus was opened, relocating the Economics and Jurisprudence faculties; in 2008 another campus was established in the municipality of Soyapango by an agreement with the Padre Arrupe Foundation, becoming a specialized nursing school.