September 1946. Granted independence only two months earlier and still prostrate from the effects of World War II, the Philippines , then a young Republic, was faced with a formidable task: that of rebuilding its institutions and rehabilitating its people. Seeing the great need to help young graduates become true professionals a group of educators led by Dr. Francisco T. Dalupan rented a room on Dasmariñas Street , Manila and conducted a CPA review class with only 110 students.

It was a small but significant beginning, for in the CPA examinations of the following year, four of the 110 reviewees garnered top positions, while the rest did quite well.

The review school became known overnight. And for Dr. Dalupan and friends, not having the slightest ideas that what they pioneered in would become the country's biggest private school, the march toward destiny began.

Encourage by this initial success, Dr. Dalupan and his associates opened the Philippine College of Commerce and Business Administration (PCCBA) to some 350 business students in the summer of 1947 on R. Papa Street . Later on, secretarial and secondary school students were also admitted.

In June 1948, the PCCBA moved to what is now UE's main campus, and in rapid succession, opened the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of Education , Graduate School of Business Administration and College of Dentistry .

On July 3, 1951 , the PCCBA marked a milestone when it was granted university status and became the University of the East with Dr. Dalupan as President and Chairman of the Board.

UE was to expand further. UE-Caloocan on Samson Road was established in 1954 as a Vocational and Technical Training Center . Later, it became an autonomous unit headed by a Chancellor with the College of Business Administration , Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Fine Arts. Henceforth, UE Caloocan was to called Caloocan Campus to distinguish it from the Manila Campus on C.M. Recto Avenue .