The desire to establish the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences has existed since the establishment of Andalas University on September 13, 1956. Preparations for establishing the faculty were further strengthened by its inclusion in the Ten-Year Development Master Plan of Andalas University for the period 1980-1989. After that, in collaboration with the Jakarta Social Sciences Foundation and the West German Volkswagen Stiftung, Andalas University organized a preparatory workshop for the opening of the faculty in early 1980. On the recommendation of this workshop, Andalas University proposed the opening of the Faculty of Socio-Cultural Affairs to the Ministry of Education and Culture. However, after going through various processes, the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) of Andalas University finally officially began to be established on May 13, 1993 based on the Decree of the Minister of Education and Culture No. 0202/0/1993.

After the establishment of FISIP in 1993 with two departments, namely the Department of Sociology and the Department of Anthropology, a Political Science Study Program was opened which was prepared by a team led by Drs. Bakaruddin Rosyidi, MS. The government approved the establishment of a Political Science Study Program with the issuance of the Decree of the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture Number 326 / DIKTI / Kep / 1997 dated August 7, 1997 concerning the Establishment of a Political Science Program at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Andalas University Political Science. Since then, the Political Science Study Program was officially established at FISIP Andalas University. The team led by Drs. Bakaruddin Rosyidi MS, prepared the change of the Political Science Study Program to the Department of Political Science in accordance with the Decree of the Directorate of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture Number 05 / DIKTI / Kep / 2005 dated February 11, 2005, concerning the Establishment of the Department of Political Science at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Andalas University.

In 2005, three new study programs were established at FISIP. The State Administration Study Program was opened in 2005, the International Relations Study Program was opened in 2007. The team led by Drs. Bakaruddin Rosyidi MS as the Dean, succeeded in opening the study program and obtained permission from the Directorate General of Higher Education No. 1182 / U / T / 2006. In 2005, a team was formed to open a Non-regular Study Program, Communication Science Study Program, International Relations Study Program, S2 Sociology and S2 Anthropology Study Program and S2 Local Politics and Regional Autonomy Study Program. The S2 Study Program in Local Politics and Regional Autonomy has accepted new students since the 2005/2006 academic year, until now it is part or concentration of the Rural Area Development Study Program. The non-regular Political Science Study Program was held in the 2006/2007 academic year, and the S2 Sociology study program has been established since 2008 which was then followed by the S2 Anthropology Study Program, the S2 Communication Science Study Program, and the S2 Public Administration Study Program.

Finally, it is worth noting here experts and community leaders who have not a few contributions in fighting for and fostering the department that became the forerunner of this Faculty. These names include Drs. Zuber Usman, Prof. Dr. Taufik Abdullah, Prof. Koentjaraningrat, Djoni Marsinih, SE, Rusli Amran, Dr. Mochtar Naim, Prof. Mawardi Yunus, Prof. Dr. Abdul Aziz Saleh, MA, Prof. Dr. Khaidir Anwar, MA, and so on which cannot be mentioned all here have contributed greatly to the establishment of FISIP and developed as it exists today. Now FISIP has 92 permanent lecturers with four professors, namely Prof. Dr. rer. soz Damsar MA, Prof. Dr. Afrizal, MA, Prof. Dr. rer. soz Nursyirwan Effendi, and Prof. Dr. Erwin. The rapid development of FISIP is also inseparable from the leadership factor. Since May 1993 until now, FISIP has been led by eight deans. Besides Prof. Dr. Abdul Aziz Saleh, MA, as Acting Dean, Dahrul Dahlan, SH served as dean from 1994 to 2004 (twice the period), and Dr. Damsar, M.A from 2000 to 2004. The leadership was continued by Drs. Bakaruddin Rosyidi, M.S from 2004 to 2008, Drs. Alfitri, M.S from 2008 to 2012, Prof. Dr. rer.soz Nursyirwan Effendi from 2012 to 2016, and Dr. Alfan Miko, M.Si from 2016 to 2020. Since August 2020, the Dean of FISIP for the 2020-2024 period has been held by Dr. Azwar, M.Si.

Based on the Minister of Education and Culture Number 47 of 2013 concerning the Statute of Andalas University, the management of monodisciplinary Bachelor, Master, and Doctoral programs is carried out by each faculty. Currently, FISIP has six majors consisting of six Undergraduate Programs and five Master Programs, and one Doctoral Program. Of the 6 existing Bachelor programs, there are 4 Undergraduate Programs (S1) that have obtained an A rating by BAN-PT, namely Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, and Communication Science. The other 2 Undergraduate Programs (S1), namely Public Administration, and International Relations obtained a B rating. In 2019, the number of civil servant lecturers owned by FISIP was 92 people, while the number of registered students was 2,208 people. After calculation, a ratio of 1 lecturer to 24 students was obtained. This indicates that the comparison of the number of lecturers and students at FISIP is close to the ideal number. However, there are still some study programs that are still not balanced between lecturers and students, such as the Department of International Relations and the Department of Political Science.

In 2020, of the five Masters Study Programs at FISIP, this year a total of 80 new students were accepted. There are 80 new students of the FISIP master's program in 2020, 38 people come from the master program in Communication Science, followed by the Political Science Program with 17 people. If you look closely, the number of student admissions in 2020 increased slightly compared to the previous year, from 64 people up to 80 people, with a percentage increase of 25%. It is noted that the high interest in the Master of Communication Science Program and the Master of Political Science Program is due to the offer of scholarships and cooperation between Andalas University and the Ministry of Information and Communication (Kominfo) and the General Election Commission (KPU).