Alliant was formed in 2001 by the combination of two older institutions: the
California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) and
United States International University (USIU). Like the institutions that it descended from, Alliant has its home campus in San Diego, California. Until 2007, USIU also had a Europe campus in a former public school in the UK, which was used as a site for many films, including the
Harry Potter series. USIU is the descendant of the original
Balboa School of Law founded by Leland Ghent Stanford as a private graduate institution in 1924. The name was changed to
Balboa University and then, in 1952, to
California Western University. With the name change to California Western University the school relocated to an oceanside campus in
Point Loma (the site of present-day
Point Loma Nazarene University). In 1968, the school's name was changed to
United States International University with the vision to become a global university. Land was purchased for a new campus in
Scripps Ranch, and all USIU operations were moved there by 1973. William C. Rust was the president of California Western University who ushered in the transformation to USIU and led the school for the next 37 years. Rust's vision was "to create global understanding through a single university with campuses all over the world.". The founding goal for USIU was a focus on "human excellence" over "intellectual excellence." In 1986, Rust was still breaking new ground for buildings and maintaining a focus on further expansion in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe, and Russia. In 1999, the
Nairobi campus became its own independent entity known as
United States International University Africa. In 2001 the California School of Professional Psychology and United States International University merged to become Alliant International University, taking over the Scripps Ranch campus of USIU. At first Alliant was a nonprofit university like its predecessors. In February 2015, Alliant became a for-profit
benefit corporation and part of the Arist Education System, a subsidiary of
Bertelsmann. In January 2026, Alliant International University rebranded as Alliant University to reflect the institution’s transition to a primarily U.S.-based university. == Schools ==