It was founded in 1968 during the aftermath of the Parent Commission, originally encompassing campuses in the towns of Sherbrooke, Thetford Mines and Granby.

In the following years, the school oversaw an expansion in its number of buildings (referred to internally as Pavillons)[5] on and outside of its campus, consisting today of 7 on-campus buildings, a location in Val-des-Sources which offers certain basic classes[6] and the CRIFA (Centre régional d’initiatives et de formation en agriculture), a partnered establishment that specializes in agricultural education, located in the nearby town of Coaticook.

Due to an unprecedented influx of students, a total of 1730 in September 1968,[11] the eastern campus was created the year after with the opening of the Pavillon 3, located in the former École normale du Sacré-Coeur.

It is the oldest continuous pavillon that is currently part of the Cégep de Sherbrooke, housing the social sciences facilities and affiliated programs.

[14] On 8 February 1977, a fire broke out in the basement of the student residences of the Collège de Sherbrooke which would cost a total of more than 100,000$ CAD in damages as well taking up to 15 days for the surrounding area to be cleaned.

[15] 3 years after winning a trophy for excellence in its 1975 season by the newspaper, La Tribune, The college's hockey team would be disbanded in 1978 due to high costs and a diminishing interest among students.

This was due to multiple factors: the implementation of the Projet de règlement des études collégiales (PREC) which aimed at adding history, mathematics and economy courses to the curriculum of all programs, the raise of student loan interest rates by 10.5% as well as the freezing of bursaries in 1982.

[17] Its first largescale campaign took place in 2003 with the Adhésion à l'Alliance Sport-Études program, aiming to aid student-athletes to conciliate their studies and their sports disciplines.

[19] On February 29, 2012, the AÉCS would adopt, by popular vote, to go on strike indefinitely as part of the 2012 Quebec student protests.

Picketing would take place every morning from then on for 9 weeks, after which the student council would vote on a return to classes, despite still refusing the final offers of the Liberal government.

[2] In 2018, the Cégep de Sherbrooke held a year-long celebration of its semicentennial (50th) anniversary, offering many different events, activities and expositions all throughout the year.

[2] [20] The 10-acre (4.0 ha) campus of the Cégep de Sherbrooke is composed of the first 6 Pavillons, connected by intertwining green space and parking lots.

Besides physical education classes, the Pavillon 1 is mainly dedicated to the school's Centre de l'activité physique (CAP), consisting of 5 gymnasiums, a room for indoor climbing, a 25-meter (82 ft) long swimming pool, and a fitness center.

[21] All of the services offered by the CAP, such as renting equipment or places, are accessible to the public with certain tariffs, whereas students have either reduced or no fees.

Students have access to multiple services, such as renting audiovisual equipment, aid in documentary research, assistance in multimedia production and 3D printing.

Students can access a collection of around 2,000 physical copies of books and periodicals, more than 100,000 audiovisual and printed documents, as well as a selected catalogue of exterior sources, such as Cairn.info, the Canadian Reference Centre, Érudit, Encyclopaedia Universalis, different video distribution services, like the National Film Board of Canada or Télé-Québec, and several online dictionaries, such as the Petit Robert or the Multidictionnaire.

A few programs are given mostly outside of campus: agricultural management in the CRIFA, and law enforcement and paramedicine in the Pavillon 10, however some general classes are given in one of the main buildings.

All technical programs offer or require internships to be completed during parts of their sessions, partnering with many different businesses and organizations in and around Sherbrooke.