Established in 1933, the seminary is owned and administered by the Society of the Divine Word (Latin: Societas Verbi Divini, or SVD).

The primary purpose of the seminary is to prepare missionaries for both the Philippine and foreign missions.

Its students are mostly seminarians preparing for the priesthood, and come from a cluster of around 14 autonomous affiliated houses of formation.

DWST offers the following degrees: DWST also hosts a house of formation for the SVD-Philippines—the SVD Scholasticat and the Divine Word Institute of Mission Studies (DWIMS).

The school's entity was closely associated with the rector, thus there was no official appointment for a dean until the start of the school-year 1969.