The institution was established on June 2, 1924 as the Baybay Agricultural School (BAS) through a Provincial Board Resolution. The institution attained rapid growth and development following its conversion into Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA) on May 24, 1974 through Presidential Decree (PD) No. 470 and amended by PD No. 700 on May 12, 1975. In 1999, four institutions of higher education in the province of Leyte were integrated into the College to create a five-campus ViSCA system. ViSCA became Leyte State University (LSU) through RA No. 9158 issued on August 11, 2001. LSU became Visayas State University (VSU) on April 27, 2007 by virtue of RA No. 9437. VSU’s mandate is the Visayas. The establishment of VSU realized the thrust of the Philippine government to develop three Zonal Agricultural Universities (ZAU’s) – to serve major regions of the country: for the Visayas, Visayas State University (VSU); for Mindanao, the Central Mindanao University (CMU); and for Luzon, the Central Luzon State University (CLSU).